An examination of the relations between effortful control in early childhood and risk for later externalizing psychopathology: A bi-factor structural equation modeling approach

Effortful control (EC) is characterized by regulatory strategies that contribute to patterns of (mal)adaptation across development. Deficits in EC pose risk for externalizing psychopathology, but whether and how subfactors of EC differentially influence children’s conduct problems (CP), attention deficit disordered behaviors (ADD), and callous-unemotional (CU) traits remains unknown. Research on EC may benefit from alternative modeling strategies that allow for comparisons of overall EC scores and its subfactors in the prediction of externalizing outcomes. The current study uses a bi-factor structural equation modeling approach to examine if general EC and its subfactors (i.e., attentional focusing, low-intensity pleasure, perceptual sensitivity, inhibitory control) at 36 months differentially predict CP, ADD, and CU traits at 84 months. Using a longitudinal sample of 206 children followed from age three to seven years (47.8% female, 42.6% European-American), results indicated that increased general EC at 36 months predicted reduced CU traits and ADD at 84 months. Attentional focusing was the only subfactor to uniquely predict later CU traits, suggesting that attentional abilities hold particular significance for buffering against psychopathy. Findings are interpreted in the context of methodological and theoretical significance for future developmental research, as well as implications for interventions targeting regulatory strategies in early childhood.