ABSTRACT

Temperamental effortful control (EC) and executive functions (EF) are two frameworks for studying self-regulation in children. Despite stemming from different research traditions, they show many conceptual and theoretical similarities and their corresponding tasks are often used interchangeably. However, little is known about how and whether the two constructs can be distinguished empirically. The present study aimed to contribute to the investigation of this issue. A sample of 230 preschool children aged 4–6 years were tested with two common behavioral EC tasks and an EC questionnaire. Furthermore, the assessment included common measures of the three subcomponents of EF, namely inhibition, working memory, and shifting. Data were analyzed using correlational and confirmatory factor analyses. In accordance with our hypotheses, we found significant positive correlations between most EC and EF measures, and a single factor model, in which all EC and EF tasks loaded significantly on the underlying factor, was supported by our results. Moreover, this latent construct generalized across gender and age. These findings show that the variety of common EC and EF tasks used in this study all seem to tap similar aspects of self-regulation and therefore support an integrated model of self-regulation encompassing EC and EF. Our results are further considered to be informative for future research using different EC and EF tasks.

摘要

气质努力控制（EC）和执行功能（EF）是研究儿童自我调节的两个框架。尽管它们源自不同的研究传统，但它们在概念和理论上却显示出许多相似之处，并且它们的相应任务通常可以互换使用。但是，关于如何以及是否可以凭经验区分这两种结构知之甚少。本研究旨在为对此问题的调查做出贡献。通过两项常见的行为EC任务和一份EC问卷对230名4-6岁的学龄前儿童进行了测试。此外，评估还包括EF的三个子组件的通用度量，即抑制，工作记忆和移动。使用相关和验证性因素分析法分析数据。根据我们的假设，我们发现大多数EC和EF度量之间存在显着的正相关性，而单因素模型则支持所有EC和EF任务显着增加了潜在因素的结果。而且，这种潜在的构造在性别和年龄上都有普遍性。这些发现表明，本研究中使用的各种常见EC和EF任务似乎都利用了自我调节的相似方面，因此支持了涵盖EC和EF的自我调节的集成模型。我们的研究结果进一步被认为可为使用不同EC和EF任务的未来研究提供信息。这些发现表明，本研究中使用的各种常见EC和EF任务似乎都利用了自我调节的相似方面，因此支持了涵盖EC和EF的自我调节的集成模型。我们的研究结果进一步被认为可为使用不同EC和EF任务的未来研究提供信息。这些发现表明，本研究中使用的各种常见EC和EF任务似乎都利用了自我调节的相似方面，因此支持了涵盖EC和EF的自我调节的集成模型。我们的研究结果进一步被认为可为使用不同EC和EF任务的未来研究提供信息。