Proximal and distal predictors of self-regulatory change in children aged 4 to 7 years

Abstract

Background: Growth in early self-regulation skills has been linked to positive health, wellbeing, and achievement trajectories across the lifespan. While individual studies have documented specific influences on self-regulation competencies in early childhood, few have modelled a comprehensive range of predictors of self-regulation change across health, development, and environment simultaneously. This study aimed to examine the concurrent associations among a range of proximal and distal influences on change in children's self-regulation skills over 2 years from age 4-5 years. Methods: Data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 4983) were used in a structural equation model, predicting a multi-source composite measure of self-regulation at each of 4-5 years and 6-7 years. By controlling for earlier self-regulation and covariates, the model examined the relative contributions of a comprehensive range of variables to self-regulation change including health, development, educational, home environment, time-use, and neighbourhood characteristics. Results: The significant predictors of children's self-regulation growth across 4 to 7 years were fewer behavioural sleep problems, higher gross motor and pre-academic skills, lower levels of maternal and paternal angry parenting, and lower levels of financial hardship. There were also marginal effects for high-quality home learning environments and child-educator relationships. Conclusion: Findings suggest that if we are to successfully foster children's self-regulation skills, interventionists would do well to operate not only on children's current capacities but also key aspects of their surrounding context.

Effect of Omega-3 Supplementation on Self-Regulation in Typically Developing Preschool-Aged Children: Results of the Omega Kid Pilot Study—A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

“…While self-regulation and executive functions are complex processes and are influenced by factors such as sleep problems, family financial hardship, angry parenting and gross motor and pre-academic skills, there is also evidence to support the use of n-3 LCP-UFA to support the development of self-regulation [46]. However, data from this study and the literature suggest that children who are most likely to benefit from n-3 LCPUFA supplementation are either experiencing clinical disorders and/or underperforming compared to same aged peers.…”

Academic resilience from school entry to third grade: Child, parenting, and school factors associated with closing competency gaps

“…It is likely that a mix of mediating and moderating pathways within children’s bioecological worlds, that include self-regulation, vocabulary, sleep health, parenting, and teacher characteristics, support academic resilient pathways. For example, positive parenting is known to support children’s self-regulation development [ 63 ] which in turn supports language learning [ 64 ] and academic achievement [ 13 ]. Language skills also predict growth in self-regulation over time [ 65 ].…”

“…Language skills also predict growth in self-regulation over time [ 65 ]. Healthy sleep in children is known to support self-regulation development [ 63 ] as well as being directly predictive of achievement [ 16 ]. Future studies should aim to explicate these complex interactions across the transition to school and early school years period, which would help to identify the most salient modifiable factors upon which to intervene and at what time.…”

Self-Regulation Patterns in Kindergarten Children: A Latent Profile Analysis

“…Socioemotional behaviors can again be grouped into more positive behaviors, including warmth, involvement, and sensitive care (e.g., Bindman et al, 2015;Blair et al, 2011), and more negative behaviors, such as control, harshness, and intrusiveness (e.g., Blair et al, 2011;Roskam et al, 2014). Whereas higher self-regulation was found to be related to positive parenting, such as involvement and sensitive care (e.g., Valcan et al, 2018), lower levels of self-regulation were related to negative parenting practices, such as harshness or physical violence (Baron & Malmberg, 2019;Williams & Howard, 2020).…”