Abstract
This study focused on the individual differences in two aspects of preschoolers' self-regulation : self-assertion and self-inhibition. Mothers of 75 boys and 75 girls rated their children on the Approach, Adaptability, and Mood scales of the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire when the children were 11 months old. When the children were 3 years and 7 months old, mothers completed the Behavioral Style Questionnaire and an additional questionnaire concerned with children's conflicts and maternal discipline techniques. When their children were 4 years and 1 month old, mothers completed a questionnaire about self-regulation. The results showed that behaviorally uninhibited children were high in self-assertion, whereas children rated high on adaptability and good mood were highly self-inhibited. Children rated high on both self-assertion and self-inhibition were temperamentally easy and were exposed to more reason-based discipline techniques from mothers. Finally, an experimental and observational study conducted on 40 preschoolers revealed that self-assertive children had been behaviorally uninhibited in toddlerhood and temperamentally easy in infancy. The findings demonstrated that self-regulation consists of two processes : the internalization of rules and the control of behavior.
