Abstract
Behavioral regulation is one of the key developmental skills children acquire during early childhood. Previous research has focused primarily on the role of parents as socializing agents in this process, yet it is likely that older siblings also are influential given the numerous daily interactions between siblings. This exploratory longitudinal study investigated developmental heterogeneity in behavioral regulation during toddlerhood and the early preschool years (18 to 36 months) and relations with older siblings’ control and behavioral regulation while taking into account parental discipline. Toddlers were visited at home at 18, 24, and 36 months and observed during a gift‐delay task with their older sibling in 93 families. Behavioral regulation of both siblings and gentle and harsh control of the older sibling were coded during the sibling gift‐delay task, which was validated using parent‐reports of toddlers’ internalized conduct. Analyses revealed five distinct developmental trajectories among toddlers’ behavioral regulation, revealing different patterns of developmental multifinality and equifinality. Older siblings’ harsh control and parental discipline differed across toddler trajectory groups. Older siblings’ behaviors covaried with the toddlers’ behavioral regulation suggesting that older siblings may be acting as models for younger siblings, as well as disciplining and teaching toddlers to resist temptation.
Highlights
Behavioral regulation is associated with a host of positive adjustment outcomes including higher academic performance and better social-emotional functioning and psychological health in childhood and adulthood (Mischel et al, 2010; Moffitt, Poulton, & Caspi, 2013)
We examined the relations between trajectories of toddlers’ behavioral regulation and their older siblings’ control and behavioral regulation observed during the gift-delay paradigm
We examined whether parental discipline directed to either sibling was related to behavioral regulation of either child, and to older siblings’ control
Summary
Behavioral regulation is associated with a host of positive adjustment outcomes including higher academic performance and better social-emotional functioning and psychological health in childhood and adulthood (Mischel et al, 2010; Moffitt, Poulton, & Caspi, 2013). Behavioral regulation—the ability to control one's behaviors in tempting situations and to inhibit prohibited behavior—develops dramatically in the early years (see Bridgett, Burt, Edwards, & Deater-Deckard, 2015 for a review; Kochanska, Tjebkes, & Fortnan, 1998; Putnam, Spritz, & Stifter, 2002). During toddlerhood and the early preschool years, children rely predominantly on external guidance mostly from parents to regulate behavior (Kochanska & Aksan, 2006; Putnam et al, 2002), but siblings—especially older siblings with better regulatory abilities— may play important roles in scaffolding the development of children's behavioral regulation. Given the large individual differences in sibling dynamics and the developmental timing of regulatory skills, there is no doubt heterogeneity in the developmental patterns of behavioral regulation in early childhood. We refer to the younger siblings as toddlers for the remainder of this paper
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