The Development of Self-regulation in the Preschool Years

Across early childhood, there are rapid advances in children's abilities to manage their behaviors and emotions, an ability referred to as self-regulation. In addition to normative developmental changes, there are stable individual differences in how well children are able to self-regulate. These differences are believed to reflect the combination of many factors including cognitive skills, the development of prefrontal regions of the cortex, the nature of parent-child interactions, and a child's level of emotional reactivity. In the current study the relations among many of these factors were examined in children ranging in age from 48 to 54 months. The children were observed during a series of tasks in which they were required to hold back, or inhibit, their responses for varying periods of time either with their mother, alone, or with a peer. This study allows us to examine questions about the influence of context and task demands on self-regulatory skills. As well, we are exploring differences in the adaptiveness of different regulatory skills for children varying in levels of emotional reactivity.

This study is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) HD# 17899.

Principal Investigator:
Heather Henderson

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