Assessment of self-regulation at preschool age

Abstract

Self-regulation competences are considered an essential prerequisite for successful school entry and are seen as a strong predictor for later development such as empathy. In the German-speaking countries, there is currently a lack of instruments for assessing self-regulation. Reliable tasks would give children the opportunity to receive adequate support simplify their developmental steps. This dissertation addresses this gap by reviewing available instruments for preschool-age self-regulation assessment and evaluating their suitability for diagnostic purposes. The first publication reviewed therefore instruments available in German-speaking countries, identifying 12 questionnaires, three observation instruments and 26 performance tests. These results indicate the availability of reliable instruments for assessing facets of self-regulation. Simultaneously, the review showed, that test batteries are lacking. To date, no performance tests or observation instruments offer a differentiated assessment of self-regulation, and there are no standardized data for assessing the emotional facet of self-regulation using Delay of Gratification tasks. Given the first publication highlighted the absence of test batteries, the second publication analysed the quality criteria of a test battery (EF Touch) translated into German, using an initial sample of N = 90 children. All tasks demonstrated acceptable to very good internal consistencies (α = .51-.93), with most showing significant intercorrelations (r = .39-.51). A significant correlation (r = -.43) was found with the parents' assessment of executive function (BRIEF-P). Older children outperformed younger children in all tasks, almost no gender effects were found. These results can be seen as a first step towards demonstrating the usefulness of assessing self-regulation with a test battery for the German-speaking world. As there is also a lack of standardisation for tasks assessing the emotional facet of self-regulation, the third publication examined delay of gratification tasks for their usability as a diagnostic instrument. Delay of gratification tasks were assessed (N = 1498; 51% girls) at the ages of 3 and 5, as well as the children's psychopathology (ADHD and conduct problems) using parts of the SDQ at the ages of 5 and 6. Delay at age 3 was associated with ADHD at age 5 (OR = 1.84) and conduct issues at age 6 (OR = 2.61). The results demonstrated high specificity (77-78%) and low sensitivity (27-42%), accurately identifying children below the SDQ cut-off, but making it unsuitable for screening children at risk. The research in this dissertation has taken a first step in answering the question of what instruments are already available to assess self-regulation in preschool children, and has examined the suitability of two instruments. It has been shown that questionnaires are available to assess children's self-regulation, which enables the examination of suspected risks of low self-regulation, which in turn allows to verify the risk of psychopathology. An initial evaluation of a test battery to assess executive functions has been undertaken. In order to provide a nuanced risk assessment and assessment of self-regulation, it is recommended that a combination of reliable instruments be used, covering different components of self-regulation with various subscales. In light of the findings presented in the dissertation, the use of delay of gratification tasks as a diagnostic tool is not currently recommended.