Poster #213 - Predicting Children’ School Readiness and School Adjustment from Temperamental Profiles: A Person-centered Approach

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Research has shown that increasing children’s academic, social, and emotional readiness to enter school can lead to positive trajectories across childhood and that significant individual variability in school readiness. Several mechanisms including biological and environmental factors have been suggested to explain such variability. In particular, children’s temperamental characteristics in terms of reactivity and regulation have been suggested as robust contributors to school readiness and school adjustment. However, few studies have systematically examined children’s temperamental profiles based on a person-centered approach, and their longitudinal effects on school readiness and school adjustment, especially among children in Korea. The present study investigated how children’s different temperamental profiles predicted their school readiness and subsequent school adjustment. Specifically, the present study examined (1) latent profiles of children’s temperament focusing on negative emotionality and self-regulation; (2) differences in school readiness and school adjustment in 1st grade across different temperamental profiles; and (3) mediating effects of school readiness on the association between early temperamental profiles and school adjustment in 1st grade.
Method: The present study used the Panel Study on Korea Children (PSKC), a nationally representative survey conducted between 2008 and 2015 in Korea, which assessed 2,150 children (1,059 girls) annually across ages 0 to 7). The current analyses focused on a subsample of 205 children (99 girls) who were randomly selected for an in-depth interview at age 1. Mothers reported on children’s negative emotionality (fear, frustration, sadness) and self-regulation (attentional focusing, attentional shifting, inhibitory control) using the ECBQ (Putnam et al., 2006) at age 1. Teachers rated on children’s school readiness (Murphey & Burns, 2002) at age 6 and school adjustment (Chi & Jung, 2006) at age 7 (1st grade). Data were analyzed using latent profile analysis (LPA) in Mplus and mediation analyses were conducted using Process macro in SPSS.
Results: LPA of the temperamental variables revealed three distinctive profiles of children: high negative emotionality/low regulation (12.2%), moderate negative emotionality/moderate regulation (62.0%) and low negative emotionality/high regulation (25.9%). Children with the high negative emotionality/low regulation profile tended to have significantly lower levels of school readiness (F = 3.336, p < .05) and lower levels of school adjustment (F = 4.043, p < .05) than did children with the low negative emotionality/high regulation profile. Further, multicategorical mediation models demonstrated that negative effects of being in the high negative emotionality/low regulation on school adjustment were mediated through lower levels of school readiness, compared to the other two groups.
Conclusions: Findings indicated that Korean children were classified into three temperamental profiles, which is in line with those found in American children (Laible et al., 2014). Findings also highlighted that children’s temperament at age 1 predicted school readiness and school adjustment 5-6 years later, suggesting that children with negative emotional reactivity and dysregulation may be at risk for successful transition into school. This suggests that early prevention programs that are specifically aimed at reducing negative emotionality and promoting self-regulation skills before children transition to school would effectively improve school adjustment through increased school readiness.

Authors

• Yunhee Kim, Yonsei University
  Presenting Author

• Ja Yeun Koo, Yonsei University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hyoun K. Kim, Yonsei University
  Non-Presenting Author