1-168 - Self-regulation in early childhood and relations to emergent academic skills

Session Type: Poster Symposium

Integrative Statement

Self-regulation has surfaced as a critical skill that may have long-term implications for children’s early school success (McClelland et al., 2007). Research shows that children with weak self-regulation typically demonstrate more behavior problems, weaker academic skills, and weaker social skills than do their peers with stronger self-regulation (Montroy et al., 2014). The proposed symposium will address several unexplored questions through five empirical studies: What is the relationship between different aspects of self-regulation (working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibition) and various academic domains and behavioral outcomes? Does peer self-regulation influence individual achievement?

Paper 1 demonstrates that each component of self-regulation has differential effects on academic performance, highlighting the importance of working memory in kindergarten, as it strongly predicts literacy and math skills in first grade.

Paper 2 identifies an association between inhibitory control and counting, number recognition, and non-verbal calculation in 4-to 5-year-old children, suggesting that different aspects of self-regulation relate to early number competence in preschool.

Paper 3 explores whether fall prekindergarten self-regulation relates to children’s invented spelling skills via their decoding skills in the spring. Findings suggest an indirect yet significant role of self-regulation on children’s writing skills.

Paper 4 investigates the relationship between self-regulation at 4 years of age and their pre-adolescent academic and social-behavioral outcomes. Latent growth curve modeling analyses show that early child self-regulation predicts later math and literacy skills.

Paper 5 examines whether kindergarten peer self-regulation influences student achievement. Results suggest that peer self-regulation in the fall predicts individual spring self-regulation, math, and vocabulary knowledge.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Haruka Konishi, Michigan State University

Discussant

• Megan McClelland, Oregon State University

Individual Presentations

• Developmental Differences in Subcomponents of Self-Regulation and Their Relationships with Academic Achievement: A Two-year Study - Presenting Author: Ying Wang, University of Michigan; Sammy Ahmed, University of Michigan; Fred Morrison, University of Michigan

• The contribution of self-regulation to different aspects of early number competence in preschool - Presenting Author: Vinaya Rajan, University of the Sciences; Nancy C. Jordan, University of Delaware

• The Associations Among Preschool Children’s Growth in Decoding, Self-Regulation, and Invented Writing Skills - Presenting Author: Chenyi Zhang, Georgia State University; Gary Bingham, Georgia State University; Margaret Ferguson Quinn, Georgia State University

• Early childhood self-regulation development and its association with later child outcomes - Presenting Author: Janelle Montroy, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; Susan H Landry, University of Texas

• How kindergarten peer self-regulation relates to individual self-regulation and growth in academic outcomes - Presenting Author: Haruka Konishi, Michigan State University; Lori E Skibbe, Michigan State University; Megan McClelland, Oregon State University; Ryan Bowles, Michigan State University