Early predictors of self-regulation in middle childhood

✍ Scribed by Rebecca A. Colman; Sam A. Hardy; Myesha Albert; Marcela Raffaelli; Lisa Crockett

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 120 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1522-7227
• DOI: 10.1002/icd.469

✦ Synopsis

The present study examined the contribution of caregiving practices at ages 4-5 (Time 1) to children's capacity for selfregulation at ages 8-9 (Time 2). The multi-ethnic sample comprised 549 children of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) participants. High levels of maternal warmth and low levels of physically punitive discipline at Time 1 were associated with a greater capacity for self-regulation at Time 2. These associations remained significant once initial levels of selfregulation were taken into account, indicating that the development of self-regulation is open to caregiver influence during childhood. Neither child gender nor ethnicity moderated the effects of early parenting practices on later self-regulation; the interaction between low maternal warmth and high discipline was also non-significant. Findings add to the literature on how early parenting practices shape children's capacity for effective self-regulation, and have implications for researchers and practitioners.