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Published on: September 19, 2019
Relations of child effortful control to personality, well-being and parenting
Helena R Slobodskaya1,2, Evgeniya N Petrenko1, Svetlana V Loginova1
1Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russia.
Insights
Effortful control in preschoolers is linked to personality and positive emotions, with higher levels associated with better social behavior and fewer problems. Parenting styles may influence these behaviors through effortful control.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Effortful control is a key component of executive functions in early childhood.
- Understanding its correlates is crucial for child development and well-being.
- Previous research highlights the importance of self-regulation in children's lives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the structure of effortful control in Russian preschoolers.
- To investigate the relationships between effortful control, personality, parenting, and child well-being.
- To explore the mediating role of effortful control in the link between parenting and child behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Utilized parent-reported measures including the Effortful Control Scale, Inventory of Child Individual Differences, and Alabama Parenting Questionnaire.
- Assessed child well-being using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (parent and teacher reports).
- Employed structural modeling to analyze mediating effects.
Main Results:
- Confirmed a four-factor structure of effortful control: inhibitory control, attentional control, low-intensity pleasure, and perceptual sensitivity.
- Identified gender differences (girls higher on some aspects) and age trends.
- Found significant associations between effortful control, personality traits (conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness), positive emotions, and reduced behavioral problems.
Conclusions:
- Effortful control is multifaceted and influenced by individual differences and environmental factors.
- Higher effortful control predicts better prosocial behavior and fewer internalizing/externalizing problems.
- Parenting practices appear to influence child behavior outcomes indirectly through effortful control.
Abstract:
This study examined effortful control and its relations to personality, parenting and well-being in a community sample of Russian preschool children (N = 365, 46% girls) using parent-reported effortful control scale from the very short form of the children's behaviour questionnaire, the inventory of child individual differences-short version, the Alabama parenting questionnaire-preschool revision, the self-reporting questionnaire, and parent and teacher reports on the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. The findings confirmed the four-factor structure of effortful control, including inhibitory control, attentional control, low-intensity pleasure and perceptual sensitivity. Girls demonstrated higher scores than boys on effortful control, perceptual sensitivity, inhibitory control and low-intensity pleasure. Older children scored higher than younger on inhibitory control and perceptual sensitivity and lower on low-intensity pleasure. Gender and age accounted for less than 3% of the variance in effortful control. Effortful control was associated with personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness, and with positive emotions and low-negative affect. Higher effortful control was associated with higher levels of prosocial behaviour and lower levels of externalising and internalising problems. Structural modelling showed that the effect of parenting on child prosocial and problem behaviours may be mediated by effortful control.
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