Development of Self-Regulation and Executive Functions in Elementary School Children

Abstract

Self-regulation is a comprehensive construct for the regulation of cognition, behavior, and emotions whose foundation is the executive functions. Self-regulation and executive functions are of interest to educators because of their influence on adaptations to school life, academic performance, and peer relationships. In this study, we examined the development of self-regulation and executive functions in 2nd and 4th-grade elementary school children by directly measuring inhibition, shifting, and working memory (WM) as executive functions and self-regulation. The results showed that self-regulation, inhibition, shifting, and visual WM were significantly higher in 4th graders than in 2nd graders. No significant difference was found in auditory WM. Multiple regression analysis with executive functions as the explanatory variables and self-regulation as the dependent variable revealed that inhibition predicted self-regulation in 2nd graders. Simultaneously, shifting, visual WM, and auditory WM predicted self-regulation in 4th graders. These results indicate that executive functions besides auditory WM develop from 2nd to 4th grade. Furthermore, the executive functions that influence self-regulation differ between 2nd and 4th grade children.