Objective: Many school-based prevention programs seek to strengthen effortful control in students. However, the concept of effortful control has been defined and measured inconsistently in prior studies. We identified 3 theory-based, practice-relevant dimensions of children’s effortful control and developed a teacher-rated measure to evaluate effects of programs to prevent or reduce aggressive behavior in elementary school children. Method: Using data from 690 3rd-grade students in 10 Southeastern U.S. schools, we conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of 16 teacher-rated items in a training sample (n = 350). Results: The final EFA model included 13 items in an obliquely rotated solution that included factors of inhibitory control, attention control, and impulsivity. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed acceptable model fit. Effortful control was positively associated with female sex and negatively associated with aggression and conduct problems. Conclusion: Our effortful-control measure showed acceptable reliability and validity and could be used to evaluate outcomes such as aggression in tests of preventive interventions for elementary school children.

中文翻译：

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努力控制童年：通过与性，攻击性和社会信息处理技能的关联来进行维度和验证

目标：许多基于学校的预防计划试图加强对学生的努力控制。但是，努力控制的概念在先前的研究中已被不一致地定义和测量。我们确定了3种基于理论的，与实践相关的儿童努力控制的方面，并开发了一种教师评估的措施来评估预防或减少小学生攻击行为的计划的效果。方法：我们使用美国东南部10所学校的690名3年级学生的数据，对培训样本（n = 350）中16个老师评价的项目进行了探索性因子分析（EFA）。结果：最终的EFA模型在倾斜旋转的溶液中包含13个项目，其中包括抑制控制，注意力控制和冲动性的因素。验证性因素分析显示可接受的模型拟合。努力控制与女性积极相关，与侵略和行为问题负相关。结论：我们的努力控制措施显示出可接受的可靠性和有效性，可用于评估结果，例如在针对小学生的预防性干预测试中的攻击性。