Abstract Young children’s effortful control predicts an extensive variety of developmental outcomes. Therefore, it is important to investigate possible parenting factors that influence the...Show moreAbstract Young children’s effortful control predicts an extensive variety of developmental outcomes. Therefore, it is important to investigate possible parenting factors that influence the development of children’s ability to control their behavior. The effect of parental sensitivity on children’s effortful control was studied concurrently and longitudinally. Moreover, the study investigated other crucial parental factors namely parental stress and parental psychopathology as possible moderators. This study is a part of the longitudinal Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID), of which wave one and wave three were selected. Mean age of children of wave one was (M = 3.78, N = 238 families) and wave three was (M = 5.81, N = 200 families). Children’s effortful control was measured using a shortened version of the Children Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ). Parental sensitivity was measured via observations of parent-child interaction in the Etch-A-Sketch task. The regression analysis showed that parental sensitivity is an essential predictor to children's effortful control concurrently and longitudinally. The moderation analysis did not show an evidence for a moderation effect of neither parental stress nor parental psychopathology. The study contributed to the existing literature by adding a moderation approach of analyzing factors contributing to the development of children’s effortful control. The results highlighted the importance of investing in promoting parental sensitivity in programs designed to promote healthier parent-child relationships in order to increase children’s effortful control.Show less
Self-regulation is the ability to regulate emotions and behaviour. This is an important skill in life and necessary to achieve your goals. When a child attends school, a high level of self...Show moreSelf-regulation is the ability to regulate emotions and behaviour. This is an important skill in life and necessary to achieve your goals. When a child attends school, a high level of self-regulation is necessary. Self-regulation is affected by many different factors, such as school context. Some of these factors are different in twins compared to singletons, since twins are more often compared to each other. It is still unclear how being in the same classroom or not effects the development of self-regulation in twins. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the effect of being in the same classroom on selfregulation in twins. There were 90 participants between the age of 3 and 4, followed for six years at three measurement timepoints. Self-regulation was measured by Dutch versions of caregiver questionnaires, the Children’s Behaviour Questionnaire and the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire. The long-term effect of being in the same classroom or not on the development of selfregulation and the effect of zygosity were also examined. The results showed a significant increase of self-regulation in twins from T1 to T2, but this was not affected by whether twins were in the same classroom or not. There was neither a significant long-term effect on being in the same classroom or not on self-regulation in twins nor an effect of zygosity. There seemed to be no difference in the development of self-regulation when twins were separated in school and when they were not, but for a broader understanding further research is recommended.Show less
