Parent-reported Effortful Control Research Articles

Relations between self-regulation and behavioral adjustment in Chinese American immigrant children during early elementary school years.

The present study examined associations between sociocultural factors and self-regulation (parent-report, teacher-report, laboratory tasks), and prospective relations between self-regulation and behavioral adjustment (parent-, teacher-, child-report) in a socioeconomically diverse sample of Chinese American children in immigrant families (N = 258, Wave 1 age = 6-9 years, Wave 2 age = 9-11 years, 52% boys, 57% low-income) in a longitudinal study (2007-2011) during early elementary school years. Family income uniquely related to a self-regulation latent factor ( = .22), and parent-child Chinese orientation gaps were associated with parent-reported effortful control ( = .40). Self-regulation at W1 negatively predicted parent- and teacher-reported behavioral maladjustment ( = -.22 and -.48) at W2, controlling for cross-time stability of both constructs and covariates (child sex, parental education).

Longitudinal relations between self-regulatory skills and mathematics achievement in early elementary school children from Chinese American immigrant families

Drawing from two waves (∼1.5–2.5 years apart) of longitudinal data, the current study investigated the bidirectional associations between self-regulatory skills and mathematics achievement among a socioeconomically diverse sample of school-age Chinese American children from immigrant families (N = 258; 48.1% girls; ages 5.8–9.1 years; first to third grades at Wave 1). Children’s self-regulatory skills were assessed with task-based measures of attention focusing, inhibitory control, behavioral persistence, and comprehensive executive function as well as parent- and teacher-reported effortful control. Multiple regressions showed that behavioral persistence and parent-reported effortful control positively predicted math achievement over time. Math achievement positively predicted comprehensive executive function over time. These effects were found when controlling for child age, sex, generation status, family socioeconomic status, parents’ cultural orientations, and prior levels of math achievement or self-regulation. The prospective relation of math achievement predicting comprehensive executive function remained significant after a false discovery rate correction.

Risk factors for early use of e-cigarettes and alcohol: Dimensions and profiles of temperament.

Adolescent e-cigarette use has been labeled an epidemic and alcohol use during this developmental period is associated with deleterious outcomes. Though specific temperamental dimensions have been shown to predict substance use, profiles of temperament have rarely been examined as predictors. This study examines dimensions and profiles of adolescent temperament as predictors of early use of e-cigarettes and alcohol. The sample was comprised of adolescent (62.07% female, 87.59% White, 82.76% Hispanic/Latinx)/caregiver dyads (N = 146) who completed the first two timepoints (M age at second timepoint = 16.16, SD = 0.68) of a longitudinal adolescent substance use study. Models showed parent-reported effortful control predicted protection against adolescent use of e-cigarettes, whereas adolescent report of effortful control predicted protection against alcohol use. Though dissimilar in temperamental pattern, three profiles emerged from both parent- and adolescent-report-based latent profile analysis models. Adolescents characterized by parents as displaying a Resilient profile had greater odds of e-cigarette use than those characterized by a Reserved profile, whereas adolescents who self-characterized as Mixed-type had markedly greater odds of alcohol use than those who self-characterized as Resilient. Utilization of temperamental profiles may aid in identification of particularly vulnerable subgroups of adolescents who may benefit from relevant preventative programing.

Mental Disorder During Adolescence: Evidence of Arrested Personality Development

The experience of a mental disorder may affect the development of personality in multiple ways, but empirical evidence regarding psychopathology effects on personality development that persist after remission of the disorder is limited and inconsistent. In the longitudinal cohort TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), mental disorders during adolescence were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and parent-reported effortful control, fearfulness, and frustration at age 11 and age 19 through the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. We found that adolescent mental disorders had small effects on personality change. Internalizing disorders predicted increases of fearfulness and frustration but hardly affected effortful control; externalizing disorders were unrelated to frustration and fearfulness but predicted a decrease of effortful control. Whereas fearfulness and frustration partially caught up after disorder remission, virtually all delay in effortful control was still present 2.9 years later, suggesting scarring effects.

Common mechanisms of executive attention underlie executive function and effortful control in children.

Executive Function (EF) and Effortful Control (EC) have traditionally been viewed as distinct constructs related to cognition and temperament during development. More recently, EF and EC have been implicated in top-down self-regulation - the goal-directed control of cognition, emotion, and behavior. We propose that executive attention, a limited-capacity attentional resource subserving goal-directed cognition and behavior, is the common cognitive mechanism underlying the self-regulatory capacities captured by EF and EC. We addressed three related questions: (a) Do behavioral ratings of EF and EC represent the same self-regulation construct? (b) Is this self-regulation construct explained by a common executive attention factor as measured by performance on cognitive tasks? and (c) Does the executive attention factor explain additional variance in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) problems to behavioral ratings of self-regulation? Measures of performance on complex span, general intelligence, and response inhibition tasks were obtained from 136 preadolescent children (M=11years, 10months, SD=8months), along with self- and parent-reported EC, and parent-reported EF, and ADHD problems. Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that behavioral ratings of EF and EC measured the same self-regulation construct. Cognitive tasks measured a common executive attention factor that significantly explained 30% of the variance in behavioral ratings of self-regulation. Executive attention failed to significantly explain additional variance in ADHD problems beyond that explained by behavioral ratings of self-regulation. These findings raise questions about the utility of task-based cognitive measures in research and clinical assessment of self-regulation and psychopathology in developmental samples.

Attention bias to reward predicts behavioral problems and moderates early risk to externalizing and attention problems.

The current study had three goals. First, we replicated recent evidence that suggests a concurrent relation between attention bias to reward and externalizing and attention problems at age 7. Second, we extended these findings by examining the relations between attention and behavioral measures of early exuberance (3 years), early effortful control (4 years), and concurrent effortful control (7 years), as well as later behavioral problems (9 years). Third, we evaluated the role of attention to reward in the longitudinal pathways between early exuberance and early effortful control to predict externalizing and attention problems. Results revealed that attention bias to reward was associated concurrently and longitudinally with behavioral problems. Moreover, greater reward bias was concurrently associated with lower levels of parent-reported effortful control. Finally, attention bias to reward moderated the longitudinal relations between early risk factors for behavioral problems (gender, exuberance, and effortful control) and later externalizing and attention problems, such that these early risk factors were most predictive of behavioral problems for males with a large attention bias to reward. These findings suggest that attention bias to reward may act as a moderator of early risk, aiding the identification of children at the highest risk for later behavioral problems.

Relations of child effortful control to personality, well-being and parenting.

This study examined effortful control and its relations to personality, parenting and well-being in a community sample of Russian preschool children (N = 365, 46% girls) using parent-reported effortful control scale from the very short form of the children's behaviour questionnaire, the inventory of child individual differences-short version, the Alabama parenting questionnaire-preschool revision, the self-reporting questionnaire, and parent and teacher reports on the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. The findings confirmed the four-factor structure of effortful control, including inhibitory control, attentional control, low-intensity pleasure and perceptual sensitivity. Girls demonstrated higher scores than boys on effortful control, perceptual sensitivity, inhibitory control and low-intensity pleasure. Older children scored higher than younger on inhibitory control and perceptual sensitivity and lower on low-intensity pleasure. Gender and age accounted for less than 3% of the variance in effortful control. Effortful control was associated with personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness, and with positive emotions and low-negative affect. Higher effortful control was associated with higher levels of prosocial behaviour and lower levels of externalising and internalising problems. Structural modelling showed that the effect of parenting on child prosocial and problem behaviours may be mediated by effortful control.

The neural correlates of temperamental inhibitory control in toddlers.

The current study examined the association between effortful control and a well-studied neural index of self-regulation, the N2 event-related potential (ERP) component, in toddlers. Participants included 107 toddlers (44 girls) assessed at 30, 36 and 42 months of age. Participants completed a Go/NoGo task while electroencephalography data were recorded. The study focused on the N2 ERP component. Parent-reported effortful control was examined in association with the NoGo N2 ERP component. Findings suggest a positive association between the NoGo N2 component and the inhibitory control subscale of the wider effortful control dimension, suggesting that the N2 component may index processes associated with temperamental effortful control.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.

부·모의 양육행동에 따른 유아의 의도적 통제: 유아 성별과 양육행동의 상호작용을 중심으로

The purpose of this study was to examine 1) the relations among parent-reported, teacher-reported, and task-observed effortful control, and 2) the differences of preschoolers' effortful control based on preschoolers' gender and parenting behaviors (affectionate, controlled). In this study, the subjects were 221 preschoolers (104 boys, 117 girls) and their parents. The preschoolers' effortful controls was measured by Effortful Control Battery (Snack Delay, Turtle and Rabbit, and Red-Green Sign) and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire-Short Form. Parenting behavior was measured by the Parenting Style scale. The major results of this study were as follows. First, there were positive correlations between parent-reported effortful control and both teacher-reported and task-observed effortful control. Second, there were significant differences in preschoolers' effortful control by gender and level of affectionate parenting behavior. And there was an interaction effect between gender and level of affectionate parenting behavior on preschoolers' effortful control. The implications of this study were as follows. It is needed to evaluate effortful control in various circumstances and by multiple raters, and affectionate parenting behavior had an important role upon boys' effortful control rather than that of girls.

Reduced delay of gratification and effortful control among young children with autism spectrum disorders.

We explored internal control of behavior using direct observation and parent report. Previous research has found that both the delay of gratification task and parent-reported effortful control predict later social ability and more positive outcomes in typically developing children. Children with autism spectrum disorder have previously been reported to have reduced effortful control, whereas delay of gratification ability has not been tested in a group with autism spectrum disorder. The current study compared 21 children with autism spectrum disorder and 21 typically developing children between 6 and 7 years of age-all of whom had cognitive ability at or above the average range. Children with autism spectrum disorder were less able to delay gratification, and their parents reported significantly reduced effortful control; however, scores on these measures were unrelated within the group with autism spectrum disorder. Among the children with autism spectrum disorder, lower effortful control was associated with more severe clinician-observed social symptoms.

Adolescent Family Adversity and Mental Health Problems: The Role of Adaptive Self-regulation Capacities. The TRAILS Study

Adolescent family adversity is a considerable adaptive challenge in an increasingly turbulent developmental period. Using data from a prospective population cohort of 2230 Dutch adolescents, we tested risk-buffering interactions between adolescent family adversity and self-regulation capacities on mental health. We used two adaptive self-regulation capacities that could allow adolescents to manage relatively well with family adversity: (1) parent-reported effortful control, and (2) an attentional flexibility (in this case, set-shifting) task. Adolescent family adversity was associated with internalizing problems and externalizing problems. The risk-buffering effects of effortful control were found for externalizing problems but not for internalizing problems. There were no risk-buffering effects of attentional flexibility on both types of mental health problems. Effortful control is likely to benefit adolescents' ability to channel their frustrations in adaptive ways in the presence of family adversity. Additionally, (attentional) set-shifting tasks might have a limited predictive value for risk-buffering research.

Predicting preschool effortful control from toddler temperament and parenting behavior

This longitudinal study assessed whether maternal behavior and emotional tone moderated the relationship between toddler temperament and preschooler's effortful control. Maternal behavior and emotional tone were observed during a parent–child competing demands task when children were 2 years of age. Child temperament was also assessed at 2 years of age, and three temperament groups were formed: inhibited, exuberant, and low reactive. At 4.5 years of age, children's effortful control was measured from parent-report and observational measures. Results indicated that parental behavior and emotional tone appear to be especially influential on exuberant children's effortful control development. Exuberant children whose mothers used commands and prohibitive statements with a positive emotional tone were more likely to be rated higher on parent-reported effortful control 2.5 years later. When mothers conveyed redirections and reasoning-explanations in a neutral tone, their exuberant children showed poorer effortful control at 4.5 years.

Temperamental risk factors for children’s unintentional injury: the role of impulsivity and inhibitory control

Previous research suggests both high temperamental impulsivity and low temperamental inhibitory control contribute to children’s risk for unintentional injury, but attempts to distinguish the relative contributions of the two constructs are lacking. A multi-method approach was used to assess temperamental impulsivity and inhibitory control and identify links between temperament and unintentional injury history. Parent-report, self-report, and behavioral measures of temperament were collected from a sample of 57 six-year-olds. Parents reported children’s injury history. The strongest predictor of injury was parent-reported effortful control. Implications for both temperament theory and injury prevention are discussed.