Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lo, Sharon L.
• Gearhardt, Ashley N.
• Fredericks, Emily M.
• Katz, Benjamin
• Sturza, Julie
• Kaciroti, Niko
• Gonzalez, Richard
• Hunter, Christine M.
• Sonneville, Kendrin
• Chaudhry, Kiren
• Lumeng, Julie C.
• Miller, Alison L.

Titel

Targeted self-regulation interventions in low-income children: Clinical trial results and implications for health behavior change

Ist Teil von

• Journal of experimental child psychology, 2021-08, Vol.208, p.105157-105157, Article 105157

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Self-regulation targets were reliably measured in children from low-income backgrounds.•Behavioral interventions to improve self-regulation targets were delivered with fidelity.•Most of the self-regulation interventions were not statistically significant.•Larger effect sizes were observed for future orientation and emotion regulation.•Small intervention effects observed for executive functioning and approach bias. Self-regulation, known as the ability to harness cognitive, emotional, and motivational resources to achieve goals, is hypothesized to contribute to health behaviors across the lifespan. Enhancing self-regulation early in life may increase positive health outcomes. During pre-adolescence, children assume increased autonomy in health behaviors (e.g., eating; physical activity), many of which involve self-regulation. This article presents results from a clinical trial (NCT03060863) that used a factorial design to test behavioral interventions designed to enhance self-regulation, specifically targeting executive functioning, emotion regulation, future-oriented thinking, and approach biases. Participants were 118 children (9–12 years of age, M = 10.2 years) who had a history of living in poverty. They were randomized to receive up to four interventions that were delivered via home visits. Self-regulation was assayed using behavioral tasks, observations, interviews, and parent- and child-report surveys. Results were that self-regulation targets were reliably assessed and that interventions were delivered with high fidelity. Intervention effect sizes were very small to moderate (d range = .02–.65, median = .14), and most were not statistically significant. Intercorrelation analyses indicated that associations between measures within each target varied based on the self-regulation target evaluated. Results are discussed with regard to the role of self-regulation-focused interventions in child health promotion. Implications of findings are reviewed for informing next steps in behavioral self-regulation interventions among children from low-income backgrounds.