Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T10:38:26.643Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Verbal Self-regulation over Time in Preschool Children at Risk for Attention and Behavior Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2000

Adam Winsler
Affiliation:
George Mason University, Fairfax, U.S.A.
Rafael M. Diaz
Affiliation:
University of California, San Francisco, U.S.A.
David J. Atencio
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, U.S.A.
Elizabeth M. McCarthy
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Palo Alto, U.S.A.
Lori Adams Chabay
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Palo Alto, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

This study is a prospective, longitudinal attempt to explore behavioral self-regulation, private speech, and speech-action coordination in a sample of behaviorally at-risk preschool children. Preschoolers (N = 72) were classified at age 3 years into a behaviorally at-risk group or a comparison group on the basis of preschool teacher behavioral ratings. Children were videotaped on four different occasions across the span of almost 2 years as they completed problem-solving tasks, and private speech, task performance, executive functioning, and speech-action coordination were analyzed. Children identified 2 years earlier as being hard to manage were at risk for continued behavior problems at elementary school entry. Behaviorally at-risk children consistently used more spontaneous private speech than comparison children across all observations. Both groups of children demonstrated a pattern of increasing silence with task success over time. No group differences were observed in children's speech-action coordination at age 5 years. Intraindividual developmental changes in private speech for both groups were associated with task performance, speech-action coordination, and executive functioning at age 5, but not with teacher- and parent-reported problem behavior.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)