Predicting Self-Regulation in Classroom From Parent-Reports and Observed Self-Regulation in Experimental Tasks

• In Event: Examining Variability of Young Children’s Self-Regulation Across Context: Findings From Naturalistic Approaches in Four Countries

Abstract

Controlling impulses and regulating one’s behavior and emotions is essential for socio-emotional wellbeing and adaptation (Moffitt et al., 2011). Regulation enables children to act according to social standards and supports school success, as it allows children to profit from schooling and to adequately function in the classroom context. In fact, regulation skills better predict a successful transition to primary school than elementary knowledge of letters and numbers (Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, & Cox, 2000).
Most research on child self-regulation has been inspired by the skill model of self-regulation, which conceptualizes regulation as a relatively stable individual competence, and measures regulation accordingly, in highly structured solitary tasks, or by parent-reports. These measures disregard the potential social (e.g., peers, teacher) and contextual (e.g., classroom structure, task content) factors that influence the child’s ability to regulate in the classroom. Although solitary tasks shed light on the general self-regulation capacity of a child, it is not clear how well children can rely on that capacity in the classroom, in the presence of peers and with potential distractors. In addition, although parent reports can provide an overview of the average ability of a child to self-regulate, these reports do not reflect variation in self-regulation across settings. It is therefore essential to shed light on how well these factors predict child self-regulation in the classroom context.
In a Dutch sample of 54 Kindergarten children (M-age 52 months), we videoed two observations of teacher-directed activities (e.g., circle time or crafts) on separate schooldays within a two weeks’ timeframe. We coded for children’s self-regulation using the Regulation Related Skills Measure (McCoy, 2019). During home visits we conducted a delay of gratification task (Mischel, 2014) and the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders Task (HTKS; Ponitz et al., 2009) which assesses executive functioning. Parents reported child effortful control and negative affectivity on the short form of the Child Behavior Questionnaire (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006).
In general, self-regulation in classroom was high (M=3.45 on 1-4 scale), and quite stable across the two teacher-directed activities (Mdifference=0.57, range 0-2.5). Delay of gratification was related to better self-regulation in the classroom, r(52)=.41, p=.003, but child performance on the HTKS task was not. Child negative affectivity was related to better self-regulation in the classroom, r(45)=.31, p=.04, but child effortful control was not.
Child self-regulation in classroom was predicted by an interaction between effortful control and delay of gratification, F(1,51)=11.74, p=.001, ƞ2=.20, see Figure 1. This interaction shows that for children that have difficulties delaying gratification, better effortful control does not help to self-regulate in accordance with expectations during teacher-directed activities. Variation in child self-regulation across teacher-directed activities was predicted by an interaction between negative affectivity and delay of gratification, F(1,51)=6.15, p=.02, ƞ2=.13, see Figure 2. This interaction shows that children who find it hard to delay gratification and show low negative affectivity, vary more in their ability to self-regulate in accordance with expectations across teacher-directed activities. Our findings illustrate the importance of taking into account the interplay between parent-reported and observed self-regulation to predict actual child self-regulated functioning in the classroom.

Authors

• Rianne Kok, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Presenting Author

• Nicole Lucassen, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author