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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
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Reactive temperament and self-regulation in preschool: Unique constellations impacting psychopathology

Henning Heinze1,2, Monika Daseking1,2, Caterina Gawrilow2,3

  • 1Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Applied Neuropsychology. Child
|June 26, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Childhood temperament and self-regulation interact to influence psychopathology. Early temperament traits are linked to symptoms at age 3, while executive function deficits become more relevant in older preschoolers.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychiatry
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

Background:

  • Reactive temperament traits (Negative Affect, Surgency) and self-regulatory abilities (effortful control, executive function) are crucial for healthy development.
  • These factors are known to interact and influence the emergence of psychopathological symptoms in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the interplay between temperament traits and executive function in predicting psychopathological symptoms in preschool children.
  • To examine age-specific patterns in the relationship between temperament, executive function, and psychopathology.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional study of 416 preschool children (mean age 4.15 years).
  • Temperament assessed via Child Behavior Questionnaire.
  • Executive function evaluated using Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool and EF-Touch battery.
  • Psychopathological symptoms measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Main Results:

  • No significant moderation effects were found between temperament and executive function.
  • Hierarchical regression analyses revealed age-specific patterns: reactive traits were more associated with symptoms at age 3, while executive dysfunction became more relevant at ages 4-5.
  • Negative affect predicted emotional symptoms in older children; Surgency predicted ADHD and conduct problems. Peer problems showed increasing ties to executive dysfunction.

Conclusions:

  • Temperament and self-regulation are important in combination for understanding psychopathology.
  • Findings support dimensional, domain-sensitive models of psychopathology.
  • Results have implications for individualized prevention and intervention strategies for childhood mental health.

Keywords:
Executive functionpreschoolpsychopathologyself-regulationtemperament

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