The relations of regulation and emotionality to resiliency and competent social functioning in elementary school children

Abstract

The relations of regulation and emotionality to elementary school children's social functioning were examined. Teachers and peers reported on children's social functioning; 1 parent and teacher rated children on various measures of regulation, resiliency, and emotionality; and a behavioral index of regulation was obtained. The effects of individual differences in attentional regulation on social status and socially appropriate behavior were mediated by resiliency, and dispositional negative emotionality moderated the positive relation between attentional control and resiliency (with this path being stronger for children high in negative emotionality). The effects of behavioral regulation were not mediated by resiliency; however, the relation of behavioral regulation to socially appropriate behavior (but not social status) was moderated by negative emotionality, with effects being significant and higher for children high in negative emotionality.