scholarly journals Free play predicts self-regulation years later: Longitudinal evidence from a large Australian sample of toddlers and preschoolers

2022 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 148-161
Author(s):  
Yeshe Colliver ◽  
Judith E. Brown ◽  
Linda J. Harrison ◽  
Peter Humburg
Author(s):  
Nora Wiium ◽  
Reidar Säfvenbom

Engagement in organized sports is associated with developmental factors, such as, healthy growth, cognitive abilities, psychological well-being and lower substance use. Research also suggest that the spontaneous free play that characterises self-organized physical activity (PA) provides young people with opportunities to learn social skills, such as self-regulation and conflict-resolution skills. We assessed associations between participation in the two activity types and several demographics along with developmental factors (e.g., body mass index (BMI)). Data was from a representative sample of 2060 students attending 38 schools in Norway (mean age (Mage) = 15.29, standard deviation (SD) = 1.51; 52% females). Results indicated that while engagement in organized sports was more related to developmental factors, relative to self-organized PA, engaging concurrently in both activities for at least an hour a week was more developmentally beneficial than engaging only in one for the same amount of time. Thus, PA programmes for students will enhance their effectiveness if they focus on structured activities but also self-organized activities where students can coordinate themselves.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-175
Author(s):  
Ronê Paiano ◽  
Maria Cristina Triguero Veloz Teixeira ◽  
Carla Nunes Cantiere ◽  
Maria A. Efstratopoulou ◽  
Luiz Renato Rodrigues Carreiro

Abstract Introduction There are only a few instruments available to assess behavioral problems in school-age children based on reports of physical education teachers. The Motor Behavior Checklist (MBC) was designed to be completed by this professional in free play-situations or during physical education classes to rate students’ motor-related behavior using 5-point Likert scales. The MBC comprises 59 items distributed into two broadband factors (externalizing and internalizing) and seven behavior problem scales: rule breaking, hyperactivity/impulsivity, lack of attention, low energy, stereotyped behaviors, lack of social interaction, and lack of self-regulation. The objective of this study was to describe the translation and cross-cultural adaptation processes of the MBC into Brazilian Portuguese. Method The following procedures were conducted: forward translation of the original instrument, production of a synthesized version, back-translation, literal and semantic comparison, back-translator’s evaluation of divergent items, synthesized version with back-translator’s suggestions, clarity assessment of the synthesized version by professionals (physical education teachers), focus group to assess clarity indicators of the instrument, evaluation of adjustments by the author of the instrument, and production of the final version. Results The results indicated a satisfactory level of agreement between the original and the back-translated versions, with 68% of exact equivalence between the translated items and 16% of terms requiring minor adjustments. In the draft version, 84% of the items were evaluated as clear by physical education teachers. Conclusion The translated version has compatible content with the original version. Future studies should be conducted to assess the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the MBC.


1995 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Winsler ◽  
Rafael M. Diaz

This study addressed the question of how young children's spontaneous use of private speech in the kindergarten classroom varies as a function of contextual variables, such as type of activity, immediate presence of others, degree of teacher-given structure, and classroom age composition. Twenty children from two classrooms (one mixed-age, one same-age) were systematically observed in their regular kindergarten classroom during a period of four weeks, using a time-sampling procedure. Results from ANOVA, chi-square, and logistic regression analyses indicated that young children's use of private speech does vary systematically according to the immediate physical and social context. More specifically, children were found to use more self-regulatory language when they were: (1) engaged in goal-directed task activity, as compared to free play or other activities; (2) in a classroom context which provided an intermediate degree of teacher regulation, compared to contexts in which either very little or a great deal of external structure was present; and (3) with their younger classmates, compared to either their same-age or older peers. No differences in overall private speech usage were found between the mixed-age and same-age classes. Frequency of private speech did not vary significantly depending on whether children were alone, with other children, or with adults. Classroom contexts vary in the degree to which they promote self-direction. This study suggests that if one is interested in fostering young children's development of self-regulation or in observing children's use of private speech, the optimum context is one which provides an intermediate amount of structure and allows children to spontaneously engage in challenging goal-directed activity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eeva Holmberg ◽  
Taija Teppola ◽  
Marjukka Pajulo ◽  
Elysia Poggi Davis ◽  
Saara Nolvi ◽  
...  

The unpredictability of maternal sensory signals in caregiving behavior has been recently found to be linked with infant neurodevelopment. The research area is new, and very little is yet known, how maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms and specific parental characteristics relate to the unpredictable maternal care. The aims of the current study were to explore how pre- and postnatal maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms and self-regulation capacity associate with the unpredictability of maternal sensory signals. The study population consisted of 177 mother-infant dyads. The unpredictability of the maternal sensory signals was explored from the video-recorded mother-infant free play situation when the infant was 8 months of age. Pre- and postnatal anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured by questionnaires prenatally at gwks 14, 24, 34, and 3 and 6 months postpartum. Maternal self-regulation capacity, a trait considered to be stable in adulthood, was assessed using adult temperament questionnaire when the infant was 12 months of age. We found that elevated prenatal maternal anxiety symptoms associated with higher unpredictability in the maternal care while depressive symptoms were unrelated to the unpredictability of maternal care. Moreover, the association was moderated by maternal self-regulation capacity, as higher anxiety symptoms during pre-and postnatal period were associated more unpredictability among the mothers with low self-regulation capacity. The combination of higher amount of maternal anxiety symptoms and lower self-regulation capacity seems to constitute specific risk for the unpredictable maternal care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 795-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Short ◽  
Rachael Cooper Schindler ◽  
Rita Obeid ◽  
Maia M. Noeder ◽  
Laura E. Hlavaty ◽  
...  

Purpose Play is a critical aspect of children's development, and researchers have long argued that symbolic deficits in play may be diagnostic of developmental disabilities. This study examined whether deficits in play emerge as a function of developmental disabilities and whether our perceptions of play are colored by differences in language and behavioral presentations. Method Ninety-three children participated in this study (typically developing [TD]; n = 23, developmental language disorders [DLD]; n = 24, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]; n = 26, and autism spectrum disorder [ASD]; n = 20). Children were videotaped engaging in free-play. Children's symbolic play (imagination, organization, elaboration, and comfort) was scored under conditions of both audible language and no audible language to assess diagnostic group differences in play and whether audible language impacted raters' perception of play. Results Significant differences in play were evident across diagnostic groups. The presence of language did not alter play ratings for the TD group, but differences were found among the other diagnostic groups. When language was audible, children with DLD and ASD (but not ADHD) were scored poorly on play compared to their TD peers. When language was not audible, children with DLD were perceived to play better than when language was audible. Conversely, children with ADHD showed organizational deficits when language was not available to support their play. Finally, children with ASD demonstrated poor play performance regardless of whether language was audible or not. Conclusions Language affects our understanding of play skills in some young children. Parents, researchers, and clinicians must be careful not to underestimate or overestimate play based on language presentation. Differential skills in language have the potential to unduly influence our perceptions of play for children with developmental disabilities.


2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary A. Troia

Abstract This article first provides an overview of components of self-regulation in writing and specific examples of each component are given. The remainder of the article addresses common reasons why struggling learners experience trouble with revising, followed by evidence-based practices to help students revise their papers more effectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Stoakley ◽  
Karen J. Mathewson ◽  
Louis A. Schmidt ◽  
Kimberly A. Cote

Abstract. Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is related to individual differences in waking affective style and self-regulation. However, little is known about the stability of RSA between sleep/wake stages or the relations between RSA during sleep and waking affective style. We examined resting RSA in 25 healthy undergraduates during the waking state and one night of sleep. Stability of cardiac variables across sleep/wake states was highly reliable within participants. As predicted, greater approach behavior and lower impulsivity were associated with higher RSA; these relations were evident in early night Non-REM (NREM) sleep, particularly in slow wave sleep (SWS). The current research extends previous findings by establishing stability of RSA within individuals between wake and sleep states, and by identifying SWS as an optimal period of measurement for relations between waking affective style and RSA.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmir Gračanin ◽  
Igor Kardum ◽  
Jasna Hudek-Knežević

Abstract. The neurovisceral integration model proposes that different forms of self-regulation, including the emotional suppression, are characterized by the activation of neural network whose workings are also reflected in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). However, most of the previous studies failed to observe theoretically expected increases in RSA during emotional suppression. Even when such effects were observed, it was not clear whether they resulted from specific task demands, a decrease in muscle activity, or they were the consequence of more specific self-control processes. We investigated the relation between habitual or trait-like suppression, spontaneous, and instructed suppression with changes in RSA during negative emotion experience. A modest positive correlation between spontaneous situational and habitual suppression was observed across two experimental tasks. Furthermore, the results showed greater RSA increase among participants who experienced higher negative affect (NA) increase and reported higher spontaneous suppression than among those with higher NA increase and lower spontaneous suppression. Importantly, this effect was independent from the habitual suppression and observable facial expressions. The results of the additional task based on experimental manipulation, rather than spontaneous use of situational suppression, indicated a similar relation between suppression and RSA. Our results consistently demonstrate that emotional suppression, especially its self-regulation component, is followed by the increase in parasympathetic activity.


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