Differential Growth Trajectories of Self-Regulation from Early Childhood to Adolescence: Implications for Adolescent Behavioral Outcomes

• In Event: Leveraging Latent Growth Modeling To Understand Antecedents and Consequences of Self-Regulation from Early-Childhood to Adolescence

Abstract

Introduction: Extant literature has examined the development of early self-regulation as a protective factor for adolescent outcomes (Moffitt et al., 2013). However, a paucity of longitudinal research has investigated the presence of diverse developmental trajectories of self-regulation across childhood and adolescence. The current study leverages longitudinal person-centered methods to explore the development of self-regulation from early childhood to adolescence, understand the demographic characteristics within each trajectory, and investigate how each trajectory is uniquely associated with adolescent behavioral outcomes.

Method: Data were from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,009), a national longitudinal sample that oversampled children born to unmarried mothers. Growth Mixture Models (GMM) examined the heterogeneity in the development of self-regulation across three time points (when children were aged 5, 9, and 15) and their associations with adolescents' self-report on peer rejection, delinquency, school connectedness, and positive functioning at age 15. Children’s self-regulation was measured using selected items from the Children Behavior Checklist, reported by primary caregivers. Using Mplus 8.7, we adopted a manual BCH approach estimation procedure, using full-information maximum likelihood estimation with the robust maximum likelihood estimator to handle nonnormality and missing data.

Results: GMM identified four distinct growth trajectories (Figure 1). Class 1 represented the lowest self-regulation at age 5 but demonstrated growth and was labeled Increasing (n = 212, 5.2%). Class 2 reflected stable and moderate growth self-regulation labeled as Medium (n = 1,500; 37.4%). Class 3 showed a decreasing pattern in self-regulation labeled as Decreasing (n = 201; 5%). Class 4 represented a stable growth and reached the highest self-regulation labeled as High (n = 2,096; 52.3%). Gender and maternal depression were consistent significant demographic predictors of each trajectory. Specifically, children in the Increasing self-regulation class had a higher odds of identifying as boys than in the Medium class (OR = .61; p < .05). Compared to other classes, the Increasing self-regulation class had the highest odds of having maternal depression. Compared to the High self-regulation class, the Medium class had a higher odds of having maternal depression (OR = 1.7; p < .001). For adolescent behaviors, compared to other classes, the Decreasing self-regulation class displayed the highest risk outcomes at age 15, with the highest peer rejection, more delinquency, lowest school connectedness, and a comparable lower positive functioning. Additionally, the High self-regulation class exhibited the most positive distal outcomes. Notably, there were no statistically significant differences between Increasing and Medium classes for adolescent outcomes.

Discussion: The current findings highlight the heterogeneity in early self-regulation trajectories and their long-term impact on adolescents’ behavioral outcomes. Educators may better support children's growth by being aware of varying developmental patterns of self-regulation between boys and girls. Researchers should implement diverse intervention programs during early and middle childhood to promote regulatory skills and further reduce risk behavior and elevate adolescent protective behaviors. Policymakers should recognize maternal depression and promote programs to help address maternal mental health in the early years of children’s lives.

Authors

• Qingyang Liu, Syracuse University
  Presenting Author

• Rachel A Razza, Syracuse University

• Gabriel J Merrin, Syracuse University

• Ying Zhang, Clarkson University