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Browsing by Subject "Self-Regulation"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    A developmental perspective of Self-regulatory failure in preschool and middle childhood.
    (2012-08) Cowell, Jason Michael
    The present studies were intended to detail developmental differences in self-regulatory failure. Study 1 is a downward extension (4-year-old children) of the standard dual-task approach to investigating self-regulatory failure in adults. In Study 1, 4-year-old participants (N = 61) were administered a consecutive dual-task paradigm (Baumeister et al., 1998). While this approach has been quite fruitful in the study of adult self-regulation, individual differences in self-control in children likely overshadowed any potential evidence for self-regulatory failure in Study 1. Indeed, 4-year-old children are in the early stages of the development of self-control, and demonstrate marked differences in performance and ability to self-regulate. Study 2 utilized a modified approach to the study of self-regulatory failure, informed by the extensive individual differences seen in Study 1. Participants ages 4 (n = 45), 6 (n = 55), and 8 years (n = 46), were given a within-subjects, pre-post self-control task. Each participant completed a tangram task, a 5-minute direction following task, and then another tangram task. While Study 2 does replicate the null findings of Study 1 with respect to condition differences in future persistence (direction following versus neutral), Study 2 also provides potential evidence for an alternative manifestation of performance failure. Wherein persistence on a difficult tangram after a direction following task is significantly less than persistence before the direction task (F (2, 144) = 8.76, p < .01). This effect was consistently found in all three age groups, even though older children (6 and 8 years) were found to persist significantly longer than younger children (4 years) (Tukey HSD = -85.07, p < .05; Tukey HSD = -119.29, p < .01, respectively). These results highlight the potential early onset of self-regulatory failure, as well as the necessity for the study of individual differences leading to differential magnitude of self-regulatory failure.
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    How Do Parents Affect Preschoolers' Self-Regulation? Establishing the Role of Autonomy Supportive Parenting
    (2017-06) Meuwissen, Alyssa
    The development of skills needed to regulate one’s own behavior are increasingly recognized as crucial for children’s successful development, and promoting these skills in early childhood has become a high priority. Parents are thought to be a primary influence on the formation of these skills. This study was an experimental investigation of the parenting behavior known as autonomy support and its effect on children’s self-regulation. We observed parents (half mothers, half fathers) interacting with their 3-year-old children (N pairs = 128). Parent and child typical behavior was measured at baseline. Then, in the manipulation phase, parents were randomly assigned to receive instructions to interact with their child in either a high autonomy supportive or highly controlling way. Child behavior was again measured at post-test. Results showed that mothers and fathers had similar parenting quality at baseline and there were few differences in their effect on child self-regulation. In the manipulation phase, parents in both conditions were able to change their behavior based on the instructions given. Changes in parenting affected child behavior during the manipulation puzzle, although it did not affect child post-test behavior. These results indicate that parent autonomy support is a promising target for interventions focused on improving child self-regulation skills.
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    Self-Regulation and Adolescent Decision-Making
    (2021-08) Almy, Brandon
    Adolescence is generally considered a developmental period of increased risk-taking, however, recent research has advocated for a more specific approach to describing decision-making and consideration of information contexts risks occur in. The current study utilizes a task that allows for a behavioral distinction between risk-taking and rational decision-making (i.e., expected value sensitivity). 150 early adolescents between the ages of 10 and 15 participated (Mean age 13.0, 53% female). The study also assessed regulation and reactivity tendencies with both behavioral and self-report measures. Minimal age-related increases in risk-taking were observed. Observed developmental changes in risk-taking were specific to the domain of gains and decreased with development, inconsistent with some theories of adolescent risk-taking. Additionally, with increasing age, adolescents made more adaptive decisions as defined by selecting choices consistent with expected value. This age-related trend was partly explained by a decrease in maladaptive risk-taking with age. There were no developmental differences in adaptive risk-taking. Working memory and numeracy were the most consistent predictors of expected value sensitivity. These findings were present in the gain frame but not the loss frame. Eye-tracking analyses scaffolded these findings as greater attention towards probability (compared to outcomes) was associated with expected value sensitivity. There were several gender differences in decision-making and these differences appear to be accounted for, at least in part, by commensurate differences in working memory, numeracy, and attention allocation during the decision-making task. While there is minimal evidence for approach-related tendencies influencing adolescent decision-making, there is evidence for disrupted attention in the loss frame that may be exacerbated by avoidant tendencies and reduced by regulation tendencies. Overall, adolescents made more rational decisions with age. This finding and predictors of rational decision-making are discussed in relation to existing theories of adolescent development.
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    A Twist Of Positive Youth Development: Maladaptive Self-Regulation In Early Adolescence
    (2016-02) Hou, Yuefeng
    A Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) model has been used to measure adults’ life management skills. The SOC behavior was associated with healthy development and personal success in adulthood. In Positive Youth Development (PYD) studies, SOC has been adapted to measure youths’ intentional self-regulation (ISR)—adult-like management skills. ISR was defined as youths’ active contribution to adaptive developmental regulations, through which youth produce positive developmental outcomes. The present study assessed 644 Grades 5 to 7 youth (55.4% female) from the 4-H Study of PYD and tested longitudinal models of SOC and PYD across Waves 1 to 3 of the 4-H Study to address the unique nature and function of SOC in early adolescence. Research findings suggested that an adaptive valence (whether SOC is applied in adaptive/prosocial self-regulation or maladaptive self-regulation) is important not only because it determines the valence (positive or negative) of effect that SOC has on PYD growth rate but also because it influences the growth rate and nature of SOC (increase or decline) in a significant way. Without an adaptive valence, young adolescents’ SOC behavior is different than adults’ in nature and thus doesn’t have the function of ISR. Therefore, we concluded that simply applying the SOC model to young adolescents as a measure of ISR is premature in relation to research and practice.