Childhood Self-Regulation and Overcontrolling Parenting: A Research Essay Review

Title: Childhood Self-Regulation as a Mechanism Through Which Early Overcontrolling Parenting Is Associated With Adjustment in Preadolescence
The study looks into longitudinal associations, for eight years, between self-regulating during childhood, overprotective parenting during toddlerhood, and the outcomes in mental, social, and academic adjustment prior to adolescence onset. Perry et al. (2018) explain that existing research supports longitudinal associations between children’s later self-regulation and early overcontrolling parenting. For instance, researchers have established that higher maternal restrictiveness in infancy leads to eight-year-old children having lower inhibitory control abilities. Previous research also shows that at 18- and 30 months, intrusive overcontrolling parenting leads to reduced levels of effortful control ranging from modulated behavior to the ability to shift attention, detect errors, and plan; a year later. Perry et al. explain that previous research had particularly shown that controlling for prior degrees of effortful parenting and control had an impact on adjusting intrusive parenting, suggesting that with time, it negatively affected the growth of self-regulatory competence in children.

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The research aims to examine the impact of overcontrolling parenting practices during toddlerhood on the inhibitory control (IC) and emotional regulation (ER) of children at the end of early childhood, in addition to changes across multiple aspects in preadolescence. The study hypothesized that overprotective parenting at 24 months would lead to a negative association with IC and ER at age five, consequently leading to lower emotional, academic, and social adjustment at age 10. The researchers also hypothesized that the indirect effects would be significant after testing the associative role of ER and IC statistically on early childhood. The children were required to have an active mother throughout the experiment, with both participating in the study at age 2. Data collection occurred when the children were two, five, and ten years of age. Data at age two was collected through observation. The children were videotaped as they participated in activities developed to elicit a behavioral and emotional response. The videos were then employed for coding behavior. Additionally, children would self-report report on their school issues and emotions at age 10, while teachers reported presented reports on academic progress and social skills at ages five and ten. The changes were then operationalized as strengths and weaknesses, with measures relevant to the study being the only ones collected. The measures used included inhibitory control at age five, sex, externalizing behavior at age two, gender, socioeconomic status, teachers-report of academic productivity at age five and age ten, emotional regulation at age five, teacher report of internalizing behaviors at age five, maternal overcontrol at age two, teacher-report of social skills at age five and age ten, and child-report of emotional and school problems at age ten.
The researchers found that, at age two, maternal control had a negative correlation with IC and ER of children aged five. The study did not find a correlation between five-year IC and ER. The results also showed that teacher-reported and child-reported outcomes variables at age ten were correlated with one another significantly. They also established a significant association between externalizing behavior at age two and all outcome variables at age 10. Notably, the association between age two externalizing and academic productivity was negative. The findings indicated that with an increase in externalizing behavior at age two, there is a higher probability of an increase in emotional issues, limited social skills, more school problems, and less academic productivity at age ten. The researchers conclude that IC and ET skills in early childhood can associate with adjustment in skills and behaviors, which correlate with a child’s well-being from toddlerhood to adolescence. Therefore, it is essential to target children in the early childhood development stage to target the development of these skills. Additionally, through controlling parenting, early childhood parenting can predict childhood regulatory abilities. The major indirect impacts established in the research indicate that the self-regulatory skills of children may be a single mechanism that associates preadolescent adjustments and controlling parenting. The study was conducted effectively with limited variability if it were to be repeated. However, several limitations warrant improvement for further research. The research examined two components of the growth process of self-regulation, behavioral and emotional regulation; however, current studies tend to consider additional vital processes such as biological, cognitive, and attentional. Therefore, future research should examine the association among every component of self-regulation to predict different types of adjustments in adolescence and preadolescence. The research also used one laboratory behavioral measure of ER and IC, with anger eliciting activity measuring emotionality while also acting as a regulator. Hence, future studies should comprise multiple measures offering more insight into the ability of children to regulate their behavior and emotions across school and family settings.
The paper took account of vital measures necessary to understand the development of children’s personalities. Self-regulatory processes tend to develop during infancy, then integrate and continue to build up progressively, contributing immensely to either maladjustment or adjustments. Emotional and behavioral regulations are vital aspects of self-regulation and have been found to develop significantly across the five years of life. Emotional regulation helps modulate, enhance, and maintain the valence and intensity of emotional experiences. These processes play a part in the offset, onset, duration, and magnitude of an emotional response. Limiting heightened emotional arousal allows a child to strengthen their ability to manage frustrations, especially in academics. Inhibitory control refers to inhibiting dominant behavioral responses and favoring subdomain response performance. Thus, individuals are able to withhold responses that may not be appropriate for given contexts. The skill is vital for children as it allows them to gain positive social skills. Therefore, understanding ER and IC is essential in improving children’s ability to improve their academic performance and social skills. The researchers explain that better mental and physical health leads to few behavioral problems, better social relationships, and academic adjustment. Therefore, conducting research for a strong understanding of elements that hinder or facilitate the development of behavioral or emotional self-regulatory abilities, in addition to the long-term impacts of particular types of self-regulatory skills on different aspects of subsequent adjustment, is vital. While numerous overprotective parents may intend to protect their children from harm, the paper proposes that the parents undergo training to allow their children to develop necessary self-regulatory skills, thus, positive overall adjustment by preadolescence. Thus, the research findings are essential to parents, especially in modern society, where they tend to be overprotective. While being overprotective may prevent harm, it has a negative impact on children’s emotional and behavioral development. Self-regulating behavior and emotions in response to changing environmental demands are critical skills children develop during early childhood development. The skill underlies successful development in numerous stages across the life of a child; hence educating parents is vital.
Reference
Perry, N. B., Dollar, J. M., Calkins, S. D., Keane, S. P., & Shanahan, L. (2018). Childhood self-regulation as a mechanism through which early overcontrolling parenting is associated with adjustment in preadolescence. Developmental psychology, 54(8), 1542. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/dev-dev0000536.pdf