Self-Control in Childhood: A Synthesis of Perspectives and Focus on Early Development

Inhibition changes across the lifespan: experimental evidence from the Stroop task

Individuals constantly exert inhibitory control over their thoughts and behaviors to plan actions that compete with habits and impulses. Cognitive inhibition enhances the selection of task-relevant stimuli and is closely related to neural changes that occur across the lifespan. Since few studies have focused on the entire lifespan, this study aimed to assess cognitive inhibition abilities in a sample of 425 healthy participants (age range: 7-88 years) using the Stroop task. The participants were grouped according to age into children, adolescents, young adults, adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. A series of ANOVAs considered Group as the independent variable and Performance indices as the dependent variables. The children did not show an interference effect (Stroop effect), likely due to the lack of an automated reading process as a consequence of ongoing brain maturation. Adolescents and young adults performed significantly faster than older adults did. The results indicate that response speed reaches its peak during adolescence and young adulthood and then slightly decreases until older age. Nevertheless, when compared with the other groups, only older adults showed significant differences in the Stroop effect, suggesting that inhibitory abilities remain relatively consistent throughout adulthood but rapidly worsen in recent years due to the physiological decline in cognitive and brain functioning associated with aging.

Parenting style and children emotion management skills among Chinese children aged 3-6: the chain mediation effect of self-control and peer interactions

Drawing on ecosystem theory, which is based on the interaction of family environment, individual characteristics, and social adaptation, this study aimed to examine the effects of parenting style on emotion management skills and the mediating roles of self-control and peer interactions among Chinese children aged 3-6 years. Some studies have investigated the relationship between parenting style and emotion management skills. However, research on the underlying mechanisms is still deficient. A sample of 2,303 Chinese children completed the PSDQ-Short Version, the Self-Control Teacher Rating Questionnaire, the Peer Interaction Skills Scale, and the Emotion Management Skills Questionnaire. The results show that: (1) Authoritarian parenting style negatively predicted children's emotion management skills, self-control, and peer interactions; (2) Authoritative parenting style positively predicted children's emotion management skills, self-control, and peer interactions; (3) Structural equation models indicated that self-control and peer interactions partially mediated the effects of authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles. The parenting style of Chinese children aged 3-6 years is related to emotion management skills, and self-control and peer interactions have chain mediating effects between parenting style and children's emotion management skills. These results provide further guidance for the prevention and intervention of emotional and mental health problems in children.

Positive and Negative Leadership in Late Childhood: Similarities in Individual but Differences in Interpersonal Characteristics

Previous research has shown that leadership is associated not only with positive but also with negative characteristics and behaviors; knowledge of the similarities and differences between positive and negative leaders remains insufficient. This study aimed to examine (1) the existence of different subtypes of leaders and (2) to what extent these leaders differed on individual and interpersonal characteristics. The sample contained 9213 students in grades 3-6 (Dutch grades 5-8), from 392 classrooms in 98 schools (50.3% girls, Mage = 10.13 ± 1.23 years). Latent profile analysis identified three leader profiles and four non-leader profiles based on peer nominations received for leadership, popularity, and positive (defending) and negative (bullying) behavior: (1) positive leaders, (2) negative leaders, (3) non-popular leaders, (4) popular children, (5) bullies, (6) extreme bullies, and (7) modal children. Multinomial logistic regression showed similarities and differences between positive and negative leaders, as well as between each of these and the other five profiles. Positive leaders were more accepted and less rejected and had more friendships than negative leaders, but the differences in individual characteristics (self-esteem, self-control, and social goals) were less clear. This study demonstrated that 10-15% of the children were perceived as leaders, and that positive leadership became more prevalent in the higher grades. Nevertheless, negative leadership occurred also in the higher grades. Interventions aimed at turning negative leaders into positive leaders may work, because positive and negative leaders do not differ greatly in individual characteristics. Such interventions may improve the relationships of negative leaders with their classmates, which may be good for their likeability (but not at the expense of their popularity) as well as for the social atmosphere in the class as a whole.

The Interplay between Socioeconomic Status, Parenting and Temperament Predicts Inhibitory Control at Two Years of Age

This paper investigates the interplay between environmental factors (socioeconomic status (SES) and parenting) and temperament in the development of inhibitory control (IC) at 2 years of age. We administered to toddlers (n = 59) a delay of gratification task which measures IC in the context of self-regulation. Parents reported their toddlers' temperament, parenting strategies, and SES. We hypothesized that poorer IC would be associated with more reactive temperament, less effortful control, lower SES and inconsistent/coercive parenting practices. Finally, we explored the interaction between temperament, parenting and SES. We found that both coercive parenting and low-SES were negatively correlated to IC at the age of 2 years. Temperamental reactivity was unrelated to IC, whereas temperamental effortful control (EC) was positively associated with IC. Results revealed a moderation effect of EC on the influence of coercive parenting and SES in toddlers' IC. Toddlers from lower SES backgrounds and with lower EC were more affected by inconsistent/coercive parenting practices and showed the poorest IC. In contrast, toddlers exhibiting high and average levels of EC seemed to be protected from the detrimental effect of low-SES and inconsistent/coercive parenting on IC. These results suggest that strengthening toddlers' EC and improving parents' parenting skills might be especially relevant for the development of IC in the context of self-regulation, particularly by preventing self-regulatory problems in children from socioeconomically deprived environments. Future studies with larger samples, focusing on populations from severe socioeconomically deprived environments, or intervention studies will be needed in order to confirm and expand our findings.

Children's eating behaviours and related constructs: conceptual and theoretical foundations and their implications

BACKGROUND

There is a substantial body of research on children's eating behaviours (e.g., food responsiveness and fussiness) and related constructs (e.g., eating in the absence of hunger, appetite self-regulation). This research provides a foundation for understanding children's dietary intakes and healthy eating behaviours, as well as efforts at intervention, whether in relation to food avoidance, overeating and/or trajectories to excess weight gain. The success of these efforts and their associated outcomes is dependent on the theoretical foundation and conceptual clarity of the behaviours and constructs. This, in turn contributes to the coherence and precision of the definitions and measurement of these behaviours and constructs. Limited clarity in these areas ultimately creates uncertainty around the interpretation of findings from research studies and intervention programs. At present there does not appear to be an overarching theoretical framework of children's eating behaviours and associated constructs, or for separate domains of children's eating behaviours/constructs. The main purpose of the present review was to examine the possible theoretical foundations of some of the main current questionnaire and behavioural measures of children's eating behaviours and related constructs.

METHODS

We reviewed the literature on the most prominent measures of children's eating behaviours for use with children aged ~ 0-12 years. We focused on the explanations and justifications for the original design of the measures and whether these included theoretical perspectives, as well as current theoretical interpretations (and difficulties) of the behaviours and constructs.

RESULTS

We found that the most commonly used measures had their foundations in relatively applied or practical concerns rather than theoretical perspectives.

CONCLUSIONS

We concluded, consistent with Lumeng & Fisher (1), that although existing measures have served the field well, to advance the field as a science, and better contribute to knowledge development, increased attention should be directed to the conceptual and theoretical foundations of children's eating behaviours and related constructs. Suggestions for future directions are outlined.

Early antecedents of emotion differentiation and regulation: Experience tunes the appraisal thresholds of emotional development in infancy

In this review, we synthesize evidence to highlight cognitive appraisal as an important developmental antecedent of individual differences in emotion differentiation and adept emotion regulation. Emotion differentiation is the degree to which emotions are experienced in a nuanced or "granular" way-as specific and separable phenomena. More extensive differentiation is related to positive wellbeing and has emerged as a correlate of emotion regulation skill among adults. We argue that the cognitive appraisal processes that underlie these facets of emotional development are instantiated early in the first year of life and tuned by environmental input and experience. Powerful socializing input in the form of caregivers' contingent and selective responding to infants' emotional signals carves and calibrates the infant's appraisal thresholds for what in their world ought to be noticed, deemed as important or personally meaningful, and responded to (whether and how). These appraisal thresholds are thus unique to the individual child despite the ubiquity of the appraisal process in emotional responding. This appraisal infrastructure, while plastic and continually informed by experience across the lifespan, likely tunes subsequent emotion differentiation, with implications for children's emotion regulatory choices and skills. We end with recommendations for future research in this area, including the urgent need for developmental emotion science to investigate the diverse sociocultural contexts in which children's cognitive appraisals, differentiation of emotions, and regulatory responses are being built across childhood.

Executive function and effortful control-Similar and different evidence from big data analysis

Introduction

The current study explored commonalities and similarities between executive function (EF) and effortful control (EC).

Methods

The major empirical studies published between 2013 and 2022 in the World of Science (WoS) was collected. The bibliographic information was systematically analyzed.

Results and discussion

(1) EC is the efficiency of executive attention that incorporates inhibitory control (IC), attentional control, activation mainly related to temperament. On the other hand, EF is the efficiency of self-directed action that encompasses IC, working memory (WM), and shifting/cognitive flexibility in particular focuses on the cognitive aspect. (2) EF research has overwhelmingly outnumbered EC research (2,000 EF studies vs. 50 EC studies per year). (3) According to a co-word analysis with keyword co-occurrences, the subject of preschool students and individual differences co-occurred in EF studies. (4) EC usually occurs with working memory and early childhood. In the more detailed analysis of the articles, the EF and EC studies used younger subject groups than older subject groups. EC studies were especially likely to use subjects in early childhood. (5) The Delis-Kaplan Tests of Executive Functioning System (D-KEFS) was the most commonly used test for EF. In contrast, the EC used self-report surveys such as the Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire (ATQ). This research illustrates and discusses key findings in the EC and EF data and provides suggestions for future study directions.

Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation

Self-regulation, the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behavior for goal-directed activities, shows rapid development in infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool periods. Early self-regulatory skills predict later academic achievement and socioemotional adjustment. An increasing number of studies suggest that screen media use may have negative effects on children’s developing self-regulatory skills. In this systematic review, we summarized and integrated the findings of the studies investigating the relationship between young children’s screen media use and their self-regulation. We searched the ERIC, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science databases and identified 39 relevant articles with 45 studies. We found that screen time in infancy is negatively associated with self-regulation, but findings were more inconsistent for later ages suggesting that screen time does not adequately capture the extent of children’s screen media use. The findings further indicated that background TV is negatively related to children’s self-regulation, and watching fantastical content seems to have immediate negative effects on children’s self-regulatory skills. We suggest that future studies should take the content and context of children’s screen media use into account and also focus on parent- and home-related factors such as parental behaviors that foster the development of self-regulatory skills.

Self-regulation in toddlers and the emergence of pre-academic disparities

A growing body of research has examined how children's self-regulation during early and middle childhood mediates SES disparities in academic achievement. Evidence suggests that these self-regulation skills begin developing even earlier, during the toddler years, but more work is needed examining how different measures of self-regulation relate to key constructs such as socioeconomic status (SES) and toddlers' pre-academic skills. In this online study, we examine multiple approaches to measuring self-regulation using confirmatory factor analyses and assess the extent to which self-regulatory skills help explain SES differences in early math and language skills among a sample of 158 two- and three-year-old children. Self-regulation was assessed through a battery of parent- and examiner-ratings. Children's counting, cardinality, and vocabulary skills were measured online through direct assessments and parent surveys. Two self-regulation factors emerged representing parent-reported and observational measures, and only observational measures of self-regulation mediated associations between SES and children's math and language skills. Parent-reported self-regulation was not uniquely related to SES or children's pre-academic skills, underscoring the need for careful consideration of how self-regulation is measured among toddlers when examining its associations with pre-academic skills.

Inhibition modulated by self-efficacy: An event-related potential study

Inhibition, associated with self-efficacy, enables people to control thought and action and inhibit disturbing stimulus and impulsion and has certain evolutionary significance. This study analyzed the neural correlates of inhibition modulated by self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was assessed by using the survey adapted from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Fifty college students divided into low and high self-efficacy groups participated in the experiments. Their ability to conduct inhibitory control was studied through Go/No-Go tasks. During the tasks, we recorded students’ brain activity, focusing on N2 and P3 components in the event-related potential (ERP). Larger No-Go N2 amplitudes for the high self-efficacy group were found compared with the low self-efficacy group. Conflict detection as represented by N2 was modulated by self-efficacy, whereas conflict inhibition as represented by P3 was not modulated by self-efficacy. The highly self-efficacious students were more capable of detecting conflicts but not necessarily more capable of inhibiting action given that conflict was detected. Taken together, these findings offer neurophysiological evidence of the important regulatory role of self-efficacy in inhibitory control ability development.

Measuring children's behavioral regulation in the preschool classroom: An objective, sensor-based approach

Children's abilities to regulate their behaviors are critical for learning and development, yet researchers lack an objective, precise method for assessing children's behavioral regulation in their everyday environments such as their classrooms. This study tested a sensor-based approach to assess preschool children's behavioral regulation objectively, precisely, and naturalistically. Children wore accelerometer devices as they engaged in center-based play in their preschool classrooms for roughly 45 min (N = 50 children, 48% female, mean age = 4.5 years). Set to record data each second, these devices collected information about children's movement (N = 140,564 observations). From these data, the authors extracted concrete behaviors hypothesized to index behavioral regulation and compared them with teacher and observer ratings of the same. Initiating movement more frequently, staying seated in activities for shorter amounts of time, and spending a greater amount of time in motion were related to lower ratings of attention and inhibitory control by teachers and by observers of classroom group time, median r = .45, p < .01. These same objectively measured behaviors showed only weak associations with children's performance on assessments of cognitive regulation, median r = .11, p = .47. The findings indicate that ambulatory accelerometers can capture movement-based indicators of children's behavioral regulation in the classroom setting and that performance on measures of cognitive regulation does not strongly predict children's behavior in the classroom. As an unobtrusive and objective measure, actigraphy may become an important tool for studying children's behavioral regulation in everyday contexts.

A Multi-Theoretical and Multi-Method Family Study Approach to Preschool Inhibitory Control: Links to Working Memory, Receptive Vocabulary, Behavioral Maladjustment, and Parent Mental Health in the Context of Temperament and Executive Functioning Perspectives

Inhibitory control (IC) is defined as the executive functioning (EF) and self-regulatory temperamental inhibition of impulsive or pre-potent behavior and has been consistently linked to multiple forms of childhood cognitive and socio-emotional maladjustment including academic and learning challenges, externalizing behaviors, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, the results of relevant investigations are somewhat dependent on the method of IC assessment and the theoretical approach of the researcher. The two primary theoretical perspectives on IC are the temperament and the EF approaches, and although there is considerable overlap between these perspectives, there are some distinctions with regard to assessment and emphases on cognition vs. emotion. Therefore, investigations including both temperament and EF approaches to IC are of considerable interest and will best inform future education, prevention, and intervention efforts. This investigation examined associations between child IC, working memory (WM), receptive vocabulary, externalizing behavioral problems, and primary caregiver depression and anxiety symptoms using a family study design. The sample was composed of 99 families with two typically developing preschool children (n = 198; 2.5-5.5 years old; M = 3.88, SD = 1.04) and one primary caregiver/parent. Child IC was assessed using a multi-method approach consisting of one parent-rated questionnaire, three independent observer rating subscales, two videotaped in-person laboratory temperament episodes, and an EF Stroop task. Child WM and receptive vocabulary were measured in the laboratory using standard assessment techniques, and the remaining measures were parent-reported. Male child participants had significantly higher levels of observer-rated hyperactivity and impulsivity, and females had higher levels of observer-rated attention and Stroop-assessed IC. Correlational results showed that excepting IC-Stroop and a snack delay task, all IC measures were significantly correlated. All IC measures except snack delay were positively correlated with WM, and with receptive vocabulary (except Lab-TAB snack delay and observer-rated hyperactivity), and WM and receptive vocabulary were also positively correlated. All IC variables, WM, and receptive vocabulary were significantly related to externalizing behavior problems. Generally, children with higher IC, WM, and receptive vocabulary had lower levels of behavioral maladjustment. Lower parent-rated IC and higher levels of externalizing behavior problems were positively associated with maternal depression and anxiety (lower receptive vocabulary level was related to depression only). Employing structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses, we further examined the interrelationships among IC temperament variables, IC-Stroop, WM, and receptive vocabulary, controlling for age, gender, externalizing behaviors, maternal depression and anxiety, and the parent-rater variance (the multi-method effect). The results of our hypothesized model showed that the IC Temperament factor, composed of the six temperament IC measures, showed a positive effect on receptive vocabulary, while the IC-Stroop positively predicted WM. The IC Temperament factor and IC-Stroop were positively correlated with each other, and the IC Temperament factor, IC-Stroop, WM, and receptive vocabulary were positively related to age. The IC Temperament factor was also associated with fewer externalizing behavior problems, maternal depression had a negative effect on receptive vocabulary, and females showed lower levels of WM and receptive vocabulary than males. Overall, the IC Temperament factor and other covariates together accounted for 22.5% of the variance in vocabulary, whereas IC-Stroop and other controlled variables could explain 49.8% of the variance in WM. These findings indicate that theoretical perspectives (in this case temperament and EF IC contexts) and the different types of assessments used are crucial considerations when interpreting the results of studies of early childhood IC. Although most assessments of IC were associated with the outcomes under study, we found specific associations between temperament measures of IC and receptive vocabulary as well as externalizing, and IC-Stroop and WM. In addition, maternal depression had an effect on receptive vocabulary, emphasizing the developmental importance of family environment in preschool. These findings are relevant to the field of child development because they address several important questions about child EF and self-regulation. 1. Do temperament and EF conceptions of IC differentially predict outcomes? 2. How does the way we measure IC from the EF and self-regulation/temperament perspectives impact our conceptualizations of these important constructs? 3. How can we reconcile the various ways different disciplines define IC and their independence/overlap? 4. How can multi-method and multi-disciplinary perspectives and data collection approaches be combined to better understand both the temperament and EF conceptions of IC? Future studies with this sample will employ this multi-theoretical and multi-method approach on assessment in preschool to predict temperament, EF, and behavioral and academic adjustment in elementary school longitudinally.

Associations Between Executive Functions and Physical Fitness in Preschool Children

Considering the current agreement on the significance of executive functions, there is growing interest in determining factors that contribute to the development of these skills, especially during the preschool period. Although multiple studies have been focusing on links between physical activity, physical fitness and executive functions, this topic was more investigated in schoolchildren and adults than in preschoolers. The aim of the current study was to identify different levels of physical fitness among pre-schoolers, followed by an analysis of differences in their executive functions. Participants were 261 5–6-years old children. Inhibitory control and working memory were positively linked with physical fitness. Cognitive flexibility was not associated with physical fitness. The research findings are considered from neuropsychological grounds, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, and the cultural-historical approach.

Appetite self-regulation declines across childhood while general self-regulation improves: A narrative review of the origins and development of appetite self-regulation

This narrative review discusses the origins and development of appetite self-regulation (ASR) in childhood (from infancy to age 6 or 7 years). The origins, or foundations, are the biological infrastructure associated with appetite regulation and appetite self-regulation. Homeostatic regulation in infancy is examined and then evidence about developmental change in components of ASR. The main ASR-related components covered are: delay-of-gratification, caloric compensation, eating in the absence of hunger, food responsiveness/hedonics and fussy eating. The research included behavioral measures, parent-reports of appetitive traits and fMRI studies. There were two main trends in the evidence: a decline across childhood in the components of ASR associated with food approach (and therefore an increase in disinhibited eating), and wide individual differences. The decline in ASR contrasts with general self-regulation (GSR) where the evidence is of an improvement across childhood. For many children, bottom-up automatic reactive processes via food reward/hedonics or food avoidance as in fussy eating, appear not to be matched by improvements in top-down regulatory capacities. The prominence of bottom-up processes in ASR could be the main factor in possible differences in developmental paths for GSR and ASR. GSR research is situated in developmental science with its focus on developmental processes, theory and methodology. In contrast, the development of ASR at present does not have a strong developmental tradition to access and there is no unifying model of ASR and its development. We concluded (1) outside of mean-level or normative changes in the components of ASR, individual differences are prominent, and (2) there is a need to formulate models of developmental change in ASR together with appropriate measurement, research designs and data analysis strategies.

Relations between child self-control, maternal relational frustration, and teacher-child conflict: a longitudinal study with children from dual-earner families

This longitudinal study follows children from dual-earner families in 4 time-points, covering the early childhood period. We examined the influence of work-family conflict (WFC) on maternal relational frustration (RF) towards the child, and investigated the reciprocal relations among maternal RF, children's self-control (SC), and teacher-child (TC) conflict over time. Participants were 214 children (97 girls; M age = 4.00 years), their mothers, and teachers. Mothers reported their own WFC and RF, whereas teachers reported child SC and T-C conflict. Results from a cross-lagged panel model indicated the experience of WFC positively predicted maternal RF. Maternal RF and T-C conflict were negatively related to the child later SC abilities. Conversely, children who displayed SC difficulties were more likely to experience later maternal RF and T-C conflict. There was evidence supporting the bidirectional effects of child SC and T-C conflict across time. Moreover, maternal RF and T-C conflict were indirectly linked, via child SC. The findings are consistent with a transactional view of development, stressing the importance of contextual factors to the quality of caregiving relationships and highlighting the complex and reciprocal relations between child regulatory competence and the quality of relationships with distinct caregivers.

Children's Dysregulated Representations Mediate Ineffective Parenting Practices and Effortful Control in Lower Income Families

OBJECTIVE

Rooted in attachment theory, we tested the degree to which children's dysregulated representations mediate linkages between ineffective parenting and children's effortful control in a sample of lower income families.

BACKGROUND

Children in lower income households are at greater risk for difficulties with effortful control. Although ineffective parenting practices may influence children's development of effortful control, there is limited knowledge related to the mechanisms underlying this association. According to attachment theory, it is possible that children who experience ineffective parenting practices have more dysregulated representations, which may then be linked with poorly regulated behavior.

METHOD

This cross-sectional study included 40 preschool-age children enrolled in Head Start and their mothers. Ineffective parenting practices were operationalized using mothers' self-reported parenting styles and observed parenting behaviors; children's dysregulated representations and effortful control were measured during a series of observed laboratory tasks. Structural equation modeling was used to test pathways between measured variables.

RESULTS

The relation between ineffective parenting practices and children's effortful control was not directly related; however, structural equation modeling indicated a significant indirect effect through children's dysregulated representations. Children whose mothers were more ineffective in their parenting had more dysregulated representations. In turn, more dysregulated representations were related to poorer effortful control.

CONCLUSION

Children who experience ineffective parenting practices may be less likely to internalize reliable expectations regarding their environment's structure and order. Poorly stabilized perceptions may inhibit adaptive social and behavioral functioning.

IMPLICATIONS

These findings inform intervention efforts aimed toward enhancing parenting practices to improve children's representations and effortful control behaviors.

A Twin Study of Inhibitory Control at Age Two and ADHD Behavior Problems at Age Three

Low levels of childhood inhibitory control (IC) are phenotypically and genetically associated with externalizing behavior problems and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Unfortunately, there is little research on this topic in early childhood, when IC first emerges. This investigation extends the previous findings of contemporaneous genetic covariance between parent-rated and laboratory-assessed IC and ADHD at age 2 by examining longitudinal links between IC at age two and ADHD behavior problems at age three in a sample of 314 same-sex twin pairs (145 monozygotic or MZ, 169 dizygotic or DZ). There were significant phenotypic associations between both parent and laboratory IC assessments at age two and later ADHD behavioral problems (correlations ranged from - .15 to - .44). In our model-fitting strategy, we included measures of ADHD and IC at age 2 as predictors of ADHD at age 3. Longitudinal genetic analyses showed that phenotypic covariance between age two IC and ADHD behavior problems one year later were explained by overlapping genetic variance (genetic correlations ranged from - .28 to - .60). However, these effects were not unique to IC and reflect variance shared with ADHD at age 2. Parent-rated IC at age two showed higher phenotypic and genetic covariance with ADHD at age three than lab ratings of IC at age two. This is the first investigation examining genetic covariance between parent and lab-based IC at age two and ADHD behavior problems at age three. Findings show that after accounting for co-occurring ADHD, early temperamental IC is not a unique genetic risk factor for later ADHD.

"Food" and "non-food" self-regulation in childhood: a review and reciprocal analysis

BACKGROUND

In developmental science, there is an extensive literature on non-food related self-regulation in childhood, where several domains relating to emotions, actions and cognitions have been identified. There is now growing attention to food related self-regulation in childhood, especially difficulties with ASR, and the consequences for weight gain and adiposity. The aim of this narrative review was to conduct a reciprocal analysis of self-regulation in the food and non-food domains in childhood (referred to as appetite self-regulation (ASR) and general self-regulation (GSR) respectively). The focus was on commonalities and differences in key concepts and underpinning processes.

METHODS

Databases and major journals were searched using terms such as self-regulation, appetite self-regulation, or self-regulation of energy intake, together with associated constructs (e.g., Executive Function, Effortful Control, delay-of-gratification). This was followed by backward and forward snowballing.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The scholarship on GSR in childhood has had a focus on the role of the cognitively-oriented Executive Function (EF), the temperamentally-based Effortful Control (EC) and the recursive interplay between bottom-up (reactive, emotion driven, approach or avoidance) and top-down (cognitive, conscious decision-making) processes. "Hot" and "cool/cold" EF and self-regulation situations have been distinguished. There were some parallels between GSR and ASR in these areas, but uncertainty about the contribution of EF and EC to ASR in young children. Possible differences between the contribution to ASR-related outcomes of delay-of-gratification in food and non-food tasks were apparent. Unique elements of ASR were identified; associated with psychological, biological and neurological responses to food and bottom-up processes. A diverse number of situations or elements connected to ASR exist: for example, energy balance homeostasis, caloric compensation, hunger regulation, satiation, satiety, energy density of food, eating in the absence of hunger, emotional eating, etc. CONCLUSIONS: Self-regulation in food and non-food domains are amenable to a reciprocal analysis. We argue that self-regulation of appetite should be added as a domain under the umbrella of self-regulation in childhood along with the other non-food related domains. This could lead to a broader understanding of self-regulation in childhood, and generate novel lines of enquiry.

Stroop-like animal size test: Links with child effortful control, personality and problem behavior

This study examined children's performance on the Stroop-like animal size test and its relations to parent-reported temperamental effortful control, personality, and common emotional and behavioral problems in a Russian sample of 5-12-year-olds (N = 202). The animal size test demonstrated a Stroop-like effect for accuracy and response time (RT) in both genders and across all ages. Children's performance on the animal size test considerably improved with age such that older children performed more accurately, were faster and their responses were less variable than younger children's responses. The findings indicated that RT was negatively related to temperamental trait of effortful control and its key components, attention focusing and inhibitory control, whereas RT variability was negatively related to both regulatory traits, effortful control and conscientiousness, and their components. Children's performance on the AST was meaningfully related to hyperactivity-inattention, externalizing behavior and overall level of childhood psychopathology. These findings provide support for the usefulness of the animal size test in the neuropsychological assessment of preschool and school-age children.

A biopsychosocial approach to processes and pathways in the development of overweight and obesity in childhood: Insights from developmental theory and research

Childhood obesity has reached alarming proportions in many countries. There is consensus that both biological (especially genetic) and environmental (including psychosocial) factors contribute to weight gain and obesity in childhood. Research has identified extensive risk or predictive factors for childhood obesity from both of these domains. There is less consensus about the developmental processes or pathways showing how these risk factors lead to overweigh/obesity (OW/OB) in childhood. We outline a biopsychosocial process model of the development of OW/OB in childhood. The model and associated scholarship from developmental theory and research guide an analysis of research on OW/OB in childhood. The model incorporates biological factors such as genetic predispositions or susceptibility genes, temperament, and homeostatic and allostatic processes with the psychosocial and behavioral factors of parenting, parental feeding practices, child appetitive traits, food liking, food intakes, and energy expenditure. There is an emphasis on bidirectional and transactional processes linking child biology and behavior with psychosocial processes and environment. Insights from developmental theory and research include implications for conceptualization, measurement, research design, and possible multiple pathways to OW/OB. Understanding the developmental processes and pathways involved in childhood OW/OB should contribute to more targeted prevention and intervention strategies in childhood.

Irritability uniquely predicts prefrontal cortex activation during preschool inhibitory control among all temperament domains: A LASSO approach

Temperament, defined as individual variation in the reactivity and regulation of emotional, motor, and attentional processes, has been shown to influence emotional and cognitive development during the preschool period (ages 4-5). While relationships between temperament and neural activity have been investigated previously, these have typically investigated individual temperament dimensions selected ad hoc. Since significant correlations exist between various temperament dimensions, it remains unclear whether these findings would replicate while analyzing all temperament dimensions simultaneously. Using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), 4-5-year-old children (N = 118) were administered a Go/No-Go task to assess prefrontal cortex activation during inhibitory control. The relationship between PFC activation and all 15 temperament domains defined by the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) was assessed using automatic feature selection via LASSO regression. Results indicate that only the Anger/Frustration dimension was predictive of activation during the inhibitory control task. These findings support previous work showing relationships between irritability and prefrontal activation during executive function and extend those findings by demonstrating the specificity of the activation-irritability relationship among temperament dimensions.

Toward a Unifying Model of Self-Regulation: A Developmental Approach

The ability to self-regulate is key to healthy, competent functioning. The breadth of evidence supporting the importance of self-regulation is matched by such a diversity of terms, concepts, measures, and levels of analysis that the National Institutes of Health called for progress toward a unifying model. In this article, we review a lineage of conceptual models and suggest a path toward a more unifying model of self-regulation that encompasses both the dynamics of moment-to-moment changes and age-related change. Drawing from these models, we define self-regulation as the influence of the recruitment of executive processes on prepotent responses. We define these terms, locating self-regulation in the dynamic relations between prepotent responses and executive processes, and offer a theoretical-mathematical approach to testing this model.