Disadvantaged Children and Their First School Experiences. ETS-Head Start Longitudinal Study : Development of Self-Regulatory Behaviors / William C. Ward.

A three-year longitudinal study was conducted with 895 Head Start children to examine the development of self-regulatory abilities during the preschool years. The purpose was to discover, given the behaviors measured, whether there is convergent and discriminant validity for the existence of one or more dimensions of self requlatory behaviors during this period. Two cognitively-based measures of self regulatory behavior, the Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Motor Inhibition Test, were administered. Results are given in terms of levels of performance on the self-regulatory measures, internal characteristics of the scores from the MFF and MIT, interrelations among the self-regulatory behaviors, and their discriminant validity with respect to general ability and response tempo dimensions. Results indicate a change with age in the preschool years in the meaning of the self-regulatory behaviors. MFF latencies develop significant correlations with other scores as age increases. MFF errors showed a significant sex difference, with males making more errors than females each year. (KM)

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