Children’s Recruitment of Executive Process: A Dimensional Scale of Self-Regulatory Behaviors

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Executive processes (EP) are implied in certain regulatory strategies that can modify prepotent responses, i.e., highly probably reactions to a stimulus or situation (Cole et al., 2019), including strategic attempts observed in young children in laboratory studies of their self-regulation. Self-soothing, a relatively automatic strategy, does not require EP, whereas shifting attention away (i.e., distraction) from circumstances that pull for the prepotent responses requires executive control of attention (Mischel, 2014; Posner & Rothbart, 2000). Kopp (1982) posited that early childhood cognitive development affords children the capacity to recruit these internal resources in the form of strategies. However, the implied developmental changes in recruitment of EP underlying children’s strategy use is rarely studied.
Typically, strategy use is measured by noting whether specific behaviors occur without reference to their implied EP engagement. To capture more precisely the extent to which young children’s strategies recruit EP, we developed a dimensional measure. We hypothesized that older children recruit EP more often and use more EP-dominant strategies. Many studies of young children’s self-regulation allude to EP recruitment in terms of temperamental effortful control, hypothesizing that children rated higher in effortful control are more disposed to suppressing prepotent responses (Murray & Kochanska, 2002) and, therefore, more likely to engage in strategies that recruit EP. Thus, the extent to which children’s strategies engage EP use should be explained by both age and effortful control.
We observed 74 children (Mage = 45.85 months, range 29.7 – 59.7 months, 50% girls) and their mothers during a 9-minute task in which children must wait to open a gift (Cole et al., 2003). Coders rated children’s strategy use in each second on a 5-point scale indicating the extent to which the strategy recruited EP (see Table 1). The resulting time-series was summarized in terms of frequency, the number of bouts of strategy use at each specific level of EP and dominance, the proportion of task time the child was engaged in a specific level of EP.
As hypothesized, results from MANCOVAs indicate age-related differences in both frequency, F(5, 67) = 3.99, p = .003, η^2= .23; and dominance, F(5, 68) = 2.83, p = .02, η^2= .17 (see Figure 1). However, contrary to the temperament hypothesis, parent-reported child effortful control was not related to differences in frequency and dominance of the 5 levels of EP.
This study is the first to use a dimensional scale to capture the extent to which children’s strategy use recruits executive processes. Evidence for age related differences in frequency and dominance of strategies that recruit different levels of EP suggests that the scale is both valid and useful. We highlight the differential utility of observing actual strategy use and obtaining parental perceptions of children’s dispositions, and the additional steps needed to further establish construct and criterion validity of this new dimensional approach for measuring and studying development of children’s strategy use.

Authors

• Gabrielle Sky Cardwell, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Pamela M Cole, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nilam Ram, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author