Measuring preschoolers' behavioral self-regulation in the contexts of child-adult interactions
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2024
Abstract
Children's self-regulation is associated with their concurrent and long-term school achievement. Theorists have argued the importance of child-adult interactions in the development of children's self-regulatory skills. However, empirical findings are mixed and have produced small or modest effect sizes, which could be due to the low ecological validity of the self-regulation measures typically used. In this study, an adult-reported scale, the Child Self-Regulation in Interaction Scale (CSIS), was developed to measure preschoolers' behavioral self-regulation in their daily interactions with adults. The psychometric properties of CSIS were also examined. A total of 1015 children and their mothers from multiple regions in China participated in this study. Factor analysis indicated that a three-factor model (namely Inhibition, Updating, and Shifting) was the best fit for the data. The CSIS also had good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and criterion validity. Additionally, the three-factor model showed satisfactory gender and longitudinal measurement invariance. The results suggest that the CSIS is a reliable and valid instrument. Children's self-regulatory behaviors may vary in different contexts. A context-specific measure of self-regulation may have stronger ecological validity by tapping into context-specific behavioral demands and is thus likely to have greater value and utility.
Keywords
Behavioral self-regulation, Child-adult interactions, Context, Psychometric properties, Ecological Validity
Divisions
Education
Funders
Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment towards Basic Education Quality, East China Normal University,Preschool Classroom Process Quality Rating System - Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment (SC21C059),Key Professional Competence of Rural Preschool Teacher in Sichuan Province - Sichuan Social Sciences "Thirteenth five years" Foundation
Publication Title
Current Psychology
Volume
43
Issue
16
Publisher
Springer
Publisher Location
ONE NEW YORK PLAZA, SUITE 4600, NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES