Caregiver-Child Interactions Predict Behavioral Regulation in Young Children

• In Event: 1-214 - Self-Regulation and Early School Success: New Perspectives and Methodologies

Integrative Statement

Children living in homes with low-SES tend to begin school exhibiting lower levels of behavioral-regulation (Wanless, McClelland, Tominey, & Acock, 2011). Lower levels of behavioral-regulation may in turn lead to fewer opportunities to learn in the classroom (Raver, Garner, & Smith-Donald, 2007), contributing to gaps in achievement between children in poverty and their more economically-advantaged peers (Duncan & Magnuson, 2005). Sensitive, supportive interactions between teachers and children may provide a foundation from which children learn to regulate their behavior and inhibit their immediate reactions to reflect on how to respond to situations. Research on teacher-child relationships has focused on more formalized, school-based settings and less is known about how this plays out in childcare programs. Since low-income families are more likely to use community-based childcare than are more economically-advantaged families (Magnuson & Shager, 2010), it is important to understand how these settings can best support children with the greatest needs. We examined whether higher quality interactions between children and their childcare providers supported children’s development of behavioral skills.

Methods
Children attending childcare programs located in low-income areas in a large city participated in the project. Data was collected from 152 children (52% female) aged three-to-five years old. Ninety-five percent were African American, 73% lived in single-parent homes, and 37% had parents with a high school degree or less. Average family income was $1,545 per month.
Ten center-based and 10 home-based childcare providers participated. Childcare providers had an average of 16 years of experience and an average income of $23,300 per year. Thirty-five percent had a Bachelor’s degree or higher and all identified as African American.
In fall and spring, we assessed children’s behavioral-regulation using the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS; Ponitz, McClelland, Matthews, & Morrison, 2009). Childcare providers reported children’s social skills and behavior problems using the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Elliot & Gresham, 2007).
The quality of interactions between childcare providers and their students was observed using the Adult-Child Interaction scale of the Program Quality Assessment (PQA; HighScope, 2003). High-quality interactions include warm, sensitive relationships, and eliciting and scaffolding children’s interests and ideas through “serve-and-return” exchanges.
Results and Discussion
Children’s behavioral-regulation and socioemotional scores are displayed in Table 1. Although there were statistically significant increases in behavioral-regulation skills, scores at the end of the year remained well below average scores seen in other populations.
HLMs examined whether higher quality childcare provider interactions supported children’s development of behavioral-regulation and socioemotional skills. At level 1, models accounted for children’s fall score of the spring outcome predicted. At level 2, childcare providers’ interaction quality was used to predict children’s behavioral-regulation and socioemotional skills. See Table 2 for full models. Higher quality childcare provider interactions were associated with increases in behavioral-regulation and reductions in behavior problems. Results indicate that sensitive caregiving may present a promising avenue to stem off behavior problems and improve behavioral-regulation.

Discussion will include how findings informed two current efforts to train and coach teachers on practices that support the development of preschool and kindergarten children’s self-regulation.

Author

• Laura Scharphorn, Center for Early Education Research and Evaluation (CEERE), HighScope Educational Research Foundation
  Presenting Author