Self-Regulation in Early and Middle Childhood as a Precursor to Social Adjustment Among Low-Income, Ethnic Minority Children

Abstract

Although existing research has shed much light on the development of ethnic minority children, many studies focus on maladjustment, such as behavioral problems, without also speaking to positive experiences in children's lives, such as friendship. An aspect of development that predicts both positive and negative outcomes for children is self-regulation. The present study investigates precursors and sequelae of self-regulation in middle childhood among low-income, ethnic minority children. The four self-regulatory constructs examined in the current study include low-level executive function (EF; e.g., working memory), high-level EF (e.g., planning), effortful control (EC; e.g., delay of gratification), and impulsivity (e.g., does not think before doing). EC in preschool was related to high-level EF and impulsivity in elementary school. High-level EF explained positive and negative aspects of social development during middle childhood. Additionally, self-regulation during elementary school played a mediating role between EC in preschool and social development in middle childhood.

Figure 1.

Conceptual model of associations among preschool self-regulation, middle-childhood self-regulation, and social adjustment outcomes. This figure illustrates the conceptual model guiding the current study. Direct paths of interest are bold. Nonbold paths indicate that models took into account links from preschool self-regulation to social adjustment outcomes. The four types of path a each represent the association between preschool self-regulation and middle-childhood self-regulation, and the two types of path b each reflect the link from middle-childhood self-regulation to social adjustment outcomes. For ease of interpretation, baseline covariates (i.e., age, gender, child race/ethnicity, single parent, income-to-needs ratio, education risk, employment risk, cohort, and treatment) and correlations among concurrent predictor variables are not shown.

Figure 2.

Estimates of mediation models predicting friendship quality and cumulative promotive factors. Unstandardized coefficients are presented for paths a and b. Standard errors for paths a and b are in parentheses. Unstandardized coefficients and standard errors for significant indirect effects are reported, with the lower-bound confidence interval and upper-bound confidence interval for indirect effects in brackets. P = parent report; T = teacher report; greater scores on high-level executive function indicate less executive function, which is consistent with the original measure (McCoy et al., 2011); promotive = cumulative promotive factors. * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.

Figure 3.

Estimates of mediation models predicting anxiety and social withdrawal. Unstandardized coefficients are presented for paths a and b. Standard errors for paths a and b are in parentheses. Unstandardized coefficients and standard errors for significant indirect effects are reported, with the lower-bound confidence interval and upper-bound confidence interval for indirect effects in brackets. Greater scores on high-level executive function indicate less executive function, which is consistent with the original measure (McCoy et al., 2011). * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.

Figure 4.

Estimates of mediation models predicting hyperactivity and inattention problems. Unstandardized coefficients are presented for paths a and b. Standard errors for paths a and b are in parentheses. Unstandardized coefficients and standard errors for significant indirect effects are reported, with the lower-bound confidence interval and upper-bound confidence interval for indirect effects in brackets. Greater scores on high-level executive function indicate less executive function, which is consistent with the original measure (McCoy et al., 2011). * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.