Poster #201 - Behavioral and physiological predictors of toddler delay of gratification

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

The development of self-regulation, including the deployment of attentional control, is a critical social development across the early years of life (Ruff & Rothbart, 2001). Infants and young toddlers who are better able to redirect their attention show greater socio-cognitive and self-regulatory skills during preschool (e.g. Wellman et al., 2004; Sethi et al., 2000), highlighting the importance of understanding early precursors of self-regulation. We sought to examine the stability of attentional orienting during a regulatory challenge from infancy through toddlerhood. In infants, higher baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of parasympathetic activity, has been associated with greater attentional control and more effective regulation during an emotional challenge (e.g. Calkins, 1997). We hypothesized that children with higher baseline RSA and who had a tendency to engage in distraction strategies would be able to delay gratification longer as toddlers.

Children (N=160) completed the Face-to-Face-Still Face Paradigm (FFSF) when they were 4-to-6-months-old. The FFSF consisted of three phases: mother and child interacting (Play), mother unresponsive (Still-Face) and resumption of mother-child interaction (Reunion). Behaviors during Reunion reveal how the dyad recalibrates following a stressor. To date, 70 children have returned to complete a delay of gratification task at 26-months-old. The delay of gratification task required children to not touch an attractive light-up toy located under a transparent container while the experimenter left for one minute. Videos were coded for 1) wait time until the child touched the container and 2) children’s use of distraction strategies, including scanning the environment. At both the infant and toddler visits, RSA was calculated from ECG recordings during a baseline task as a measure of individual differences in the capacity for physiological regulation. Parents completed the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006); scores on the Surgency subscale were used as a measure of children’s activity level.

Logistic regression models were conducted to assess how toddler baseline RSA, distraction strategies, and infant Reunion gaze patterns predict which children touched the container. The logistic regression model was significant, X2(4)= 22.61, p < 0.00, explaining 47% of the variance. Increased use of distraction strategies (B= 0.24, p < 0.01) was associated with an increased likelihood of not touching the container; toddlers in the high baseline RSA group (B= 2.14, p= 0.01) were 8.56 times more likely to successfully delay gratification. Multiple regression models were conducted to understand which factors contributed to the length of delay of gratification wait time. We found that 34% of the variance in wait time was significantly predicted by engagement in distraction strategies and Reunion gaze aversion in infancy, F(4,49)= 6,19, p < 0.001, with toddler RSA and Surgency also contributing to the model (see Figure 1).

These results extend previous research linking high baseline RSA to better performance on cognitively demanding tasks. Moreover, the stability in attentional control from infancy through toddlerhood illustrates how antecedents of self-regulation begin emerging in early infancy. Through infant-mother interactions, children are provided opportunities to regulate their affect and attention in ways that foster the development of emotion regulation skills.

Authors

• Elizabeth B. daSilva, Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus
  Presenting Author

• Bennett I. Bertenthal, Indiana University
  Non-Presenting Author