Elsevier

Cognitive Development

Volume 22, Issue 4, October 2007, Pages 511-529
Cognitive Development

Cognitive and emotional aspects of self-regulation in preschoolers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2007.08.005Get rights and content

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to examine the contribution of executive function (EF) and social cognition to individual differences in emotion regulation (ER) in preschool children. Sixty 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children were administered a battery of EF tasks, two theory of mind tasks, a measure of verbal ability, and an ER task. In addition, parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning—Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). Performance on the theory of mind tasks as well as parental ratings of executive function was not related to performance on the ER task. However, a component of EF (i.e., inhibition) approached significance with children's displays of positive behaviors during the ER task. Verbal ability was related to the regulation of positive but not negative emotions. Parental ratings of shifting accounted for a significant amount of variance in parental ratings of ER, even after controlling for verbal ability. The findings are discussed in the context of different conceptualizations of the developmental relation between ER and EF.

Introduction

Self-regulation has been considered a “central and significant developmental hallmark of the early childhood period” (Bronson, 2000, p. 32), and it has emerged as the single most important predictor of resilience in at-risk children even after controlling for a variety of other variables (Buckner, Mezzacappa, & Beardslee, 2003). Self-regulation is a complex concept that includes processes that are involved in the regulation of emotions, motivation, cognition (e.g., attention), social interactions, and physical behavior (Karoly, 1993). According to Bodrova and Leong (2006), the processes involved in self-regulation can be divided into two broad classes: social–emotional and cognitive self-regulation. The former makes it possible for children to conform to social rules and to benefit in various social contexts, while the later allows children to use cognitive processes necessary for problem solving and related abilities (Bodrova & Leong, 2006).

Recently, the development of different aspects of self-regulation and their developmental relations has received considerable attention. Specifically, several studies have examined the developmental relations between executive function (EF), which is considered an important aspect of cognitive self-regulation (Bodrova & Leong, 2006), and social cognition (theory of mind [ToM]). However, little is known about the developmental relations between EF and social cognition, or between EF and emotion regulation (ER). Furthermore, the extent to which language mediates the relations between EF, social cognition, and ER has received little attention. Thus, the major goal of the present study was to examine the relations between EF, social cognition, and ER in preschool children, and to investigate the influence of language on these relations.

In the following sections, we first discuss findings on the system of EF and its development. This is followed by a description of ToM as well as a brief overview of the links between EF and ToM. Next, ER is discussed followed by an overview of the relation between EF and ER. The role of language in the development of EF and ToM is then introduced. Finally, the goals of the study are summarized.

Executive function is an umbrella term that generally refers to the mental operations involved in the conscious control of thoughts and actions (Baddeley, 1996; Perner & Lang, 1999; Stuss & Knight, 2002; Zelazo & Müller, 2002). Although some researchers consider EF as a unitary process (e.g., Kimberg, D’Esposito, & Farrah, 1997), recent factor analytic studies of EF in adults (e.g., Ettenhofer, Hambrick, & Abeles, 2006; Fisk & Sharp, 2004; Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, & Howerter, 2000), and children (e.g., Brocki & Bohlin, 2004; Lehto, Juujärvi, Kooistra, & Pulkkinen, 2003; St Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006) suggest that EF is multi-dimensional and includes, among others, the processes of shifting, updating, and inhibiting. Shifting, or “attention switching,” refers to the ability to change back and forth between multiple tasks, mental sets, and operations (Miyake et al., 2000, Monsell, 1996). Updating refers to the updating and monitoring of representations held in working memory (WM). These processes involve the monitoring and coding of incoming information that is relevant to the task at hand, followed by the revision of items held in WM and a replacement of old irrelevant information with new relevant information (Miyake et al., 2000; Morris & Jones, 1990). Inhibition is the ability to suppress dominant, automatic, or prepotent responses. The present study will adopt a multi-dimensional approach, assessing shifting, WM, and inhibition as components of EF.

Though a few studies have used naturalistic observations to examine the contribution of EF to children's social competence (e.g., Peskin & Ardino, 2003) and problem behaviors (e.g., Fahie & Symons, 2003), limited research has assessed EF in terms of children's everyday behaviors. Indeed, the exclusive use of performance-based measures of executive function has been criticized as being too narrow and failing to accurately capture children's “real-world” functioning (Bodnar, Prahme, Cutting, Denckla, & Mahone, 2007). The concomitant use of parent and teacher reports of children's everyday behaviors may add to the ecological validity of EF assessments.

The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF; Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000) was developed for this purpose—to further understand children's and adolescents’ (i.e., 5–18-year olds) executive function competence in a real-world setting (Baron, 2000). The BRIEF samples children's behaviors thought to be related to everyday executive skills in natural settings by having parents and/or teachers complete a rating scale containing statements about the child's daily life. Studies conducted with the BRIEF have demonstrated that it “captures profiles” of EF that differ across various disorders including Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder (Gioia, Isquith, Kenworthy, & Barton, 2002). In 2003, Gioia, Espy, and Isquith (2003) developed a preschool version of the BRIEF (BRIEF-P). The new behavior rating scale consists of five scales: inhibit, shift, emotional control, working memory, and plan/organize.

The term theory of mind refers to children's ability to attribute various mental states to themselves and to others (Astington, 1993). ToM understanding is attributed to children who are able to use knowledge of their own and others’ mental states to understand others’ behavior (Carlson, Moses, & Claxton, 2004). An important transition in ToM understanding occurs between 3 and 5 years of age when children begin to comprehend that they themselves, as well as other people, can hold and act on false beliefs (Astington, 1993, Perner, 1991; Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001).

The finding that EF and ToM abilities both undergo important developmental changes between the ages of 3 and 5 years provided a theoretical impetus for the investigation of relations between the two constructs. Research suggests that there is a functional relation between EF and ToM because performance on EF and ToM tasks has been found to be significantly correlated in typically (e.g., Carlson & Moses, 2001; Carlson, Moses, & Breton, 2002; Perner & Lang, 1999) and atypically developing children (e.g., Colvert, Custance, & Swettenham, 2002; Ozonoff et al., 1991; Zelazo, Jacques, Burack, & Frye, 2002), even after controlling for age, verbal ability, and IQ. Though there is strong empirical evidence for a functional link between ToM and EF, the direction of causality remains unclear. The empirical relation has been interpreted differently, with some researchers suggesting that ToM is a prerequisite for EF (e.g., Perner & Lang, 1999), while others argue that EF is a prerequisite for ToM (e.g., Hughes, 1996, Russell, 1996).

ER, broadly defined, refers to the psychological processes involved in the control of emotion. In his comprehensive definition, Thompson (1994, pp. 27–28) defines ER as “the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive and temporal features, to accomplish one's goals.” ER is conceptualized as an integral part of self-regulation, and deficits in ER have shown to be linked to internalizing and externalizing disorders (Calkins & Howse, 2004).

A paradigm frequently used to assess ER skills in preschoolers is the structured disappointment procedure in which children received an unwanted gift (Cole, 1986, Saarni, 1984). The disappointment procedure presents the child with a conflict. On the one hand, social norms dictate that one must smile and express appreciation when receiving a gift, and on the other hand the child feels genuine disappointment as a result of receiving an undesired gift (Kieras, Tobin, Graziano, & Rothbart, 2005). How children resolve this conflict can be used to gauge their ER abilities.

Two recent studies have shown that ER and EF are related. Hoeksma, Oosterlaan, and Schipper (2004) found a correlation between variability of anger and response inhibition in children between the ages of 10 and 13 years. Using a motor inhibition task as an indicator of effortful control, Kieras et al. (2005) found that children's effortful control was significantly related to their display of positive affect in the disappointment procedure. Specifically, children with low effortful control showed less positive affect after receiving an undesirable gift than after receiving a desirable one. By contrast, the amount of positive affect displayed by children with high effortful control did not differ across these situations. Taken together, these findings suggest that inhibition is involved in ER. However, because extant studies have not assessed whether other aspects of EF, in addition to inhibition, contribute to ER, the unique contribution of each aspect of EF to ER remains unclear. The present study will elucidate the relation between different aspects of EF and ER by jointly assessing all three components of EF and determining their relative contribution to individual differences in ER.

Studies which assessed the correlation between language and EF in preschoolers have generally found correlations between measures of EF and verbal ability in 2-year olds (Carlson et al., 2004; Hughes & Ensor, 2005) as well as in older preschool children (Blair, 2003; Carlson et al., 2004; Müller, Zelazo, & Imrisek, 2005). Particularly striking are the high correlations between verbal ability and tasks assessing cognitive flexibility (Hongwanishkul, Happaney, Lee, & Zelazo, 2005; Lang & Perner, 2002; Müller et al., 2005; Perner, Lang, & Kloo, 2002), and complex working memory (Davis & Pratt, 1995; Keenan, 1998).

A clear link has also been established between verbal ability and theory of mind performance in children (e.g., Astington & Jenkins, 1999; Ruffman, Slade, Rowlandson, Rumsey, & Garnham, 2003). Taken together, all of these findings support the notion that language and control processes are associated. What remains unclear is whether and to what extent verbal ability mediates the relation between, on the one hand, EF and social understanding, and, on the other hand, ER.

To summarize, the major goals of the present study were: (a) to examine the relation between measures of ER, EF, and ToM, including both performance-based measures and parent ratings, and (b) to assess the role of language in the relation between ER, EF, and ToM. We examined relations between children's performance on a battery of EF tasks, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function—Preschool Version (BRIEF-P), two measures of social cognition (i.e., ToM), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-3; Dunn & Dunn, 1997), and a performance-based measure of ER.

Section snippets

Participants

Sixty-four children were initially tested, however, four children were not included in the final sample (mean age = 54 months) because of refusal to complete all stages of testing (n = 2), uncertainties regarding normative development (n = 1), or insufficient command of the English language (n = 1). The remaining 60 children were between the ages of 37 and 70 months (23 boys and 37 girls, M = 52.55 months, S.D. = 8.16) and were divided into two age groups: younger preschoolers (14 boys and 16 girls, M = 

Results

The results are presented in four parts. First, descriptive information about the disappointment procedure is provided to determine whether this procedure evoked ER. Second, developmental trends on performance-based measures are examined. Third, correlations between all study measures are presented. Finally, regression analyses are used to examine the unique and combined contributions of EF, ToM, and verbal ability to the prediction of children's control of positive and negative affective

Discussion

The primary goal of the present study was to elucidate the relation between ER and social–cognitive development using multiple measures of ER, EF, and ToM. Preschool children were administered a battery of EF tasks along with the disappointment procedure (i.e., a performance-based measure of ER), two ToM tasks, and a measure of verbal ability. In addition, a parent completed a behavior rating scale of EF (BRIEF-P) that assessed EF in the context of children's everyday behaviors. Whereas there

Conclusions

The analysis of the relation between ER, EF, and ToM with multiple measures presents an important initial step in understanding the development of ER and how it relates to social–cognitive processes. Although we found no direct association between measures of ToM and ER, we found evidence for unique relations between specific components of both ER and executive processes. What remains to be elucidated is the nature of these differential associations involving the multiple components of ER and

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