Dr. Kimberly L Day

Self-regulation includes the ability to control one’s behavior as needed to meet social expectations and is associated with adaptive developmental outcomes. One tool for self-regulation is private speech; however, research has not examined if children’s private speech is consistent across cognitively-focused and emotionally-focused contexts and if it is associated with regulatory abilities in similar ways. The goal of this study was to investigate relations between children’s private speech and their regulation in three contexts with varying emotional and cognitive demands with children’s age examined as a moderator of the association of private speech to regulation. Preschool-aged children’s (n = 122) private speech (vocalizations, inaudible muttering, task-irrelevant, negatively valenced, and facilitative) was transcribed and coded in three contexts: selective attention where children matched pictures according to certain rules, emotion regulation where children’s persistence in attempting to overcome an obstacle to achieve a goal was observed, and inhibitory control where the children were instructed to wait to color. Using linear mixed modeling, private speech did not significantly predict children’s regulatory abilities in the selective attention task; however, meaningful associations were found between private speech and regulation in the emotion regulation and inhibitory control contexts. Furthermore, age moderated the association of private speech to regulation in the inhibitory control context. Our findings that associations between private speech and regulation outcomes differed across contexts highlight the importance of examining self-regulation as a multidimensional construct and emphasize the importance of considering both cognitive and emotional demands for supporting children’s optimal self-regulation.

Guided by the broaden-and-build model, the role that both parent and child positivity play in supporting children's self-regulation was examined. Specifically, parental positive emotional expression and emotion coaching were predicted to moderate the association of children's positive emotions to their self-regulation. Parents rated preschool-aged children's (n = 156) high-intensity and low-intensity pleasure. Parents’ positive emotional expression and emotion coaching were coded in an emotion talk task where parents discussed an upsetting event with children. Children's regulation was measured through observed distraction in a frustration task and parental rating of effortful control. Children's high-intensity pleasure was negatively associated with effortful control, whereas low-intensity pleasure was positively related to effortful control. Parents’ positive emotional expression when discussing an upsetting event was positively associated with children's distraction and effortful control and moderated the relation of child low-intensity pleasure to distraction. Parents’ positive emotion coaching was negatively related to children's effortful control and moderated the relation of children's low-intensity pleasure to distraction. Findings support the idea that parents’ socialization of positive emotion is related to children's own low-intensity positive emotion and their self-regulation during early childhood, which is a foundational period for the development of children's self-regulation.

Objective: Since inhibitory control has been implicated in children’s ability to successfully navigate their social and academic environments, it is important to explore factors underlying its development. We examined whether attentional focusing (a temperamental factor) and socioeconomic status (a caregiving environmental factor) influenced children’s inhibitory control.
Methods: Inhibitory control was coded from an observed behavioral task (Dinky Toys) and children’s temperament and socioeconomic status were indexed via parent report in 70 (36 girls; M age = 4.40 years) typically developing 4-year-old children.
Results: We found that children low in attentional focusing were differentially sensitive to their caregiving environment in predicting inhibitory control (p = .001): children with low attentional focusing displayed the highest and lowest levels of inhibitory control when their familial socioeconomic status was high and low, respectively. Children with high attentional focusing exhibited an average amount of inhibitory control regardless of their familial socioeconomic status (p = .20).
Conclusion: Findings provide support for a differential susceptibility hypothesis and suggest that plasticity in low attentional focusing may be beneficial to children in some caregiving environments. Findings also highlight the importance of considering factors internal and external to the child when exploring influences on inhibitory control.

Because shy children are at risk for poor academic achievement, it is important to examine factors that contribute to variability in the relation between individual differences in shyness and cognitive functioning before school entry. The authors examined whether on-task facilitative private speech—a proxy of self-regulation—moderated the association between individual differences in shyness and performance on an executive function (EF) task in 52 typically developing 4-year-olds. They found that private speech interacted with shyness to predict performance on the EF task in girls but not in boys. More specifically, shyness was inversely related to EF task performance when girls used low amounts of regulatory private speech, but was positively related to performance when girls used high amounts of regulatory private speech. These preliminary findings are discussed in the context of implications for shy children in educational
settings.

Private speech is an important strategy reflecting children’s self-regulation, and thus understanding how parenting may support private speech can inform intervention work on improving self-regulation. The current study longitudinally investigated how sensitive parenting and directive parenting in toddlerhood interacted to predict preschoolers’ private speech in an emotion-eliciting task. In toddlerhood, maternal parenting behaviors were observed during two freeplay sessions. Preschoolers’ social and private speech were transcribed and coded during a frustration task. Whereas parenting did not relate to other forms of private speech, preschoolers’ facilitative task-relevant private speech was predicted by the interaction of mothers’ sensitive and directive behaviors. When sensitivity was high, parents who were less directive had children who used more facilitative task-relevant private speech. These findings highlight that children’s regulation may be supported through the combination
of high sensitivity and low directiveness when parents and children are engaged in unstructured play together.

Extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1000 g) survivors are at increased risk for experiencing both peer victimization and overprotective parenting. This study investigated if overprotective parenting moderated associations between peer victimization and psychopathology among ELBW adult survivors who have been followed since birth. Participants included 81 (31 male, 50 female) adults born with an extremely low birth weight from Ontario, Canada. The participants were predominately Caucasian. The experience of peer victimization and overprotective parenting prior to age 16 was self-reported at age 22–26 years. Peer victimization was reported using the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire and overprotective parenting was reported using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Current anxiety disorder and alcohol or substance use disorder was assessed using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview at age 29–36 years. The experience of overprotective parenting moderated the association between peer victimization and risk for an anxiety disorder in adulthood (OR 2.35, 95% CI, 1.01–5.50). If the ELBW survivor reported having an overprotective parent, peer victimization was associated with increased risk for having an anxiety disorder in adulthood (OR 2.45, 95% CI, 1.13–5.30). In contrast, this association was not significant in the absence of an overprotective parent (OR 1.04, 95% CI, 0.73–1.49). Future research should further investigate if parental support and encouragement of children’s independence may be important for reducing the negative effects of peer victimization among ELBW survivors.

Background: Extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1,000 g) infants are the most vulnerable babies and are at higher risk for experiencing overprotective (i.e., controlling and intrusive) parenting, which is hypothesized to contribute to the risk for mental disorders. Despite the increased risk for anxiety disorders and decreased risk for alcohol or substance use disorders seen in ELBW survivors, no research has examined the impact of parenting. This study investigated if overprotective parenting mediates links between ELBW birth status and psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
Study design: Participants included ELBW survivors born in 1977–1982 and matched normal birth weight (≥2,500 g) control participants (ELBW n = 81; normal birth weight n = 87) prospectively followed in Ontario, Canada. These individuals retrospectively reported on whether either of their parents was overprotective using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Presence of a current anxiety disorder and of current alcohol or substance use disorders was assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview at age 29–36 years.
Results: Path analysis showed that overprotective parenting was a significant mediator of the association between ELBW status and risk for an anxiety disorder in adulthood and the risk for an alcohol or substance use disorder in adulthood in ELBW survivors. Overprotective parenting accounted for 53% of the association between ELBW status and the risk for an anxiety disorder in adulthood and 26% of the association between ELBW status and alcohol or substance use disorders.
Conclusions: Overprotective parenting accounted for a substantial proportion of the increased risk for anxiety and alcohol or substance use disorders in adulthood in ELBW survivors. Despite their perceived vulnerabilities, it is important that the parents of ELBW survivors be supported in their attempts to facilitate their children's pursuit of independence during childhood and beyond.