Self-Regulation in Context: Developmental

Processes at Home and School

Daniel Berry

HCRC Brown Bag

University of Minnesota

February 21, 2017

Self-Regulation in Context: Developmental

Processes at Home and School

Daniel Berry

Human Capital Research Collaboration

University of Minnesota

February 21, 2017

Outline

• Research Program (30,000 feet):

• What is self-regulation and why should we care?

• Empirical Example:

• Contextual risk & childcare Self-regulation &

stress physiology

• Some tentative conclusions

Self-Regulation

Executive Function (EF)

• Inhibitory Control

• Working Memory

• Set Shifting

Effortful Control

• Impulse control

• Emotion regulation

• Attention in Context

Distal Ecology

Home School

Chaos

• Instability

• Unpredictability

• Disorganization

Parent-Child Processes

• Sensitivity

• Co-regulation

• Speech Prosody

• Touch

Teacher & Peer Processes

• Classroom Climate

• T-C Relationships

• Social Networks

Stress Physiology

HPA Axis

• Cortisol

Autonomic (ANS)

• Vagal Tone &

Regulation

• PEP

• sAA

• Poverty

• Social Marginalization

• Social Policy

Self-Regulation

Home School

Stress Physiology

Academic

Learning &

Achievement

Social Learning,

Problems, & Skills

Berry et al., 2012; Blair & Razza, 2007; Espy et al., 2004;

Masten et al., 2012; Mischel et al., 1989 ; Ponitz et al., 2009;

Raver er al., 2011

Carlson et al., 2004; Doan et al., 2012; Eisenberg et al.,

2009; Hughes & Ensor, 2010; Sequin et al., 1999; Sulik,

Blair, Berry, & Greenberg, 2015

Contextual Risk & Self-Regulation

Distal Factors:

• Income/poverty (Raver, Blair, & Willoughby, 2013)

• Cumulative risk (Evans, Li, & Whipple, 2013)

Self-Regulation

Distal Ecology

Self-Regulation

Distal Ecology

Contextual Risk & Self-Regulation

Proximal Factors:

Parent–Child Interactions

• Parental sensitivity (Raver, Blair, & Berry, 2014)

• Scaffolding/autonomy support (Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, 2010)

• T–C relationships (Berry, 2012; in prep)

Home School

Contextual Risk & Self-Regulation

Proximal Factors:

Household Chaos • Disorganization

• Unpredictably

• Instability

Middle to Late Childhood

• Self-regulation (behavioral)

• Behavior problems

• Academic achievement

Early Childhood

Self-Regulation

Distal Ecology

Home

(Evans & Wachs, 2010; Evans, Li, & Whipple, 2013)

Contextual Risk, Self-Regulation, & Stress

Physiological Stress:

Autonomic

(e.g., RSA, sAA)

HPA axis (e.g., cortisol)

Allostatic load

(e.g., physio

composite)

Early

Childhood?

Child-Fixed Effects: ChaossAA & Cortisol (Berry et al., submitted)

Self-Regulation

Distal Ecology

Home

Stress

Physiology

Calkins et al., 2007, 2008; Evans & Wachs, 2010; Feldman, 2007; Gunnar & Vasquez, 2006; Hostinar & Gunnar, 2013 ; Moore & Calkins, 2007

Contextual Risk, Self-Regulation, & Stress

Early Childhood Across Contexts

• 43% children in poverty attend regular non-

parental care by nine months (Capizzano & Adams, 2003).

• Lower Risk Populations: • CC hours (especially center-based), Behavior

problems (Belsky et al., 2007; NICHD ECCRN, 2003)

• CC days predict atypical cort vs. Home days (Dettling et al., 1999; Tout et al., 1999; Phillips et al., 2011; Watamura et al., 2003;

Vermeer & van IJzendoorn, 2006)

• Links with self-regulation/EF Less clear

Non-Parental Childcare (CC)

Contextual Risk, Self-Regulation, & Stress

Early Childhood Across Contexts

• 43% children in poverty attend regular non-

parental care by nine months (Capizzano & Adams, 2003).

• Higher Risk Populations:

• CC hours/ exposure, Behavior problems

(maybe) (Côté et al., 2007 ; 2008; Votruba-Drzal et al., 2004)

• Links with stress physiology Less clear (though Rappolt-Schlicttmann et al., 2009)

• Links with self-regulation/EF Less clear

Non-Parental Childcare (CC)

Contextual Risk & Childcare Self-Regulation &

Stress Physiology

Contextual

Risk

Executive

Functioning

Cortisol

Social Problems

Academic Skills

Childcare:

• Quantity

• Quality

• Type

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Self-Regulation

The Family Life Project (FLP) • Prospective, longitudinal study of 1,292 children from low-

income families in rural contexts in PA and NC.

• Birth Grade 8 (for now)

Vernon-Feagans et al., 2013

Federal Poverty

Threshold

<200% >200%

African

American

490 29

Non-African

American

512 201

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Self-Regulation

Main Substantive Predictors (7, 15, 24,36 months):

• Household Chaos: Disorganization

• Composite of household density, noise, cleanliness, physical safety, family preparedness for visit, and daily hours of TV(Vernon-Feagans et al., 2012)

• Childcare Variables:

• Childcare Quantity: Maternal report; hours per week in non-parental care (7-36 months)

• Childcare Quality: CFA of observer ratings Caregiver Responsivity (HOME scale; 7-36 months)

• Childcare Type: Spells in center-based care

• Aggregated as mean levels 7-36 months*

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Self-Regulation Child Outcomes: • Executive Functioning (48 mo): Latent factor across 6

EF tasks tapping inhibitory control, working memory and attention shifting.

• Social Problems (age 5): Latent factor across 4 teacher-rated scales tapping social and emotion regulation problems (SDQ (Boardman et al., 2005); Social Competence Scale (Dodge et al., 1994); TOCA-R (Werthhamer-Larrsen et al., 1991)).

• General Early Academic Skills (age 5): Latent factor comprising W scores from the Applied Problems, Quantitative Concepts, and Letter-Word Id scales of WJ-III (Woodcock et al., 2001)

• Receptive Vocabulary (age 5): PPVT-4 (Dunn & Dunn, 2007).

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Self-Regulation

• Analytic Plan: SEMs +

• +: Inverse Generalized

Propensity Score

• Weighting (IPWT)

• IPWT: Creates ‘pseudo-

population’ in which

confounds are balanced

across treatment units. (Hirano & Imbens, 2004; Robins, 2000)

Mom

ADD

+ many

more

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Self-Regulation

-0.29

-0.19

-0.09

0.01

0.11

0.21

0 10 20 30 40

Esti

mat

ed L

aten

t EF

Ab

ility

(4

8 m

on

ths)

Average Weekly Hours in Child Care (7-36 mo.)

Low Household Chaos

High Household Chaos

Executive Functioning (48 mo.)

β = .21

β = -.26 (*2)

Note: y axis =2 standard deviations

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Self-Regulation

78

83

88

93

98

103

108

0 10 20 30 40

Esti

mat

ed P

PV

T St

and

ard

Sco

re (

Pre

-K)

Average Weekly Hours in Child Care (7-36 months)

Low Household Chaos

High Household Chaos

Receptive Vocabulary (age 5)

β = .10

β = -.22 (*2)

β = -.06 ns

-1.44

-0.94

-0.44

0.06

0.56

1.06

0 10 20 30 40

Esti

mat

ed L

aten

t So

cial

Pro

ble

ms

(P

re-K

)

Average Weekly Hours in Child Care (7-36 mo.)

Low Household Chaos

High Household Chaos

Social Problems (age 5)

β = -.21

β = .32 (*2)

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Self-Regulation

PPVT WJIII Social Prob.

Direct β β β EF 0.60 0.63 -0.34

Conditional Indirect Chaos-->EF|

(5 Hours CC p/ wk) -0.14 -0.11 0.08

Chaos-->EF|

(35 Hours CC p/wk) ns ns ns

Conditional indirect relations between chaos

and age-5 outcomes by childcare hours

‘Take-Home’ Messages: (1) Suggests greater CC exposure may mitigate negative effects of

chaotic home environments on EF and social and academic

problems.

(2) Conditional effects of chaos on children’s social and academic

problems may manifest via link between chaos and EF.

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Stress Physiology

• Between-Children (Berry et al., 2014)

• Within-Children (Berry et al., 2016)

• Internal validity

• Developmental differences

Are similar interactive effects between contextual

risk and childcare evident for physiological stress?

High CC Hours

Co

rtis

ol

Low Risk

Low CC Hours

High Risk

Δ Δ

Δ

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Stress Physiology

Outcome (6, 15, 24, 48 months):

• ‘Resting’ salivary cortisol (log transformed)

• Modal time: 10:00 AM; variation adjusted

Main Predictors (6, 15, 24, 36 months):

• Cumulative Contextual Risk: PCA-weighted composite of

income, education, partnered, employed, occupational

prestige, household density, neighborhood noise & safety)

• Childcare Variables: Same + Peer exposure

.

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Stress Physiology

-2.5

-2.4

-2.3

-2.2

-2.1

-2

-1.9

-1.8

0 10 20 30 40

Log

Co

rtis

ol 4

8-m

on

ths

ug/

dl

Average Weekly Hours in Child Care (7 - 36) months)

Low Risk

High Risk

β = .19 (*2)

β = .16

β = -.12

Contextual Risk, Childcare

& Stress Physiology

-2.75

-2.55

-2.35

-2.15

-1.95

-1.75

-1.55

-1.35

-1.15

0 10 20 30 40 50

log

Co

rtis

ol u

g/d

l

Childcare Hours Per Week

7 mo.

Low Risk

High Risk

A.

-2.75

-2.55

-2.35

-2.15

-1.95

-1.75

-1.55

-1.35

-1.15

0 10 20 30 40 50

log

Co

rtis

ol u

g/d

l

Childcare Hours Per Week

15 mo.

Low Risk

High Risk

B.

-2.75

-2.55

-2.35

-2.15

-1.95

-1.75

-1.55

-1.35

-1.15

0 10 20 30 40 50

log

Co

rtis

ol u

g/d

l

Childcare Hours Per Week

24 mo.

Low Risk

High Risk

C.

Time

β = -.14

β = .14

β = .13*2

Not in any straight-forward linear sense…

But should we expect linear functions?

In summary:

Contextual

Risk

Executive

Functioning

Cortisol

Social Problems

Academic Skills

Childcare:

• Quantity

• Quality

• Type

Contextual Risk & Childcare Self-Regulation &

Stress Physiology

Stress Physiology & EF

Stress & EF: Developmental ‘Inoculating’ Effects?

Are moderate physiological ‘ups and downs’ of stress in

early childhood predictive of optimal self-regulation, when

typical (e.g., average) stress levels are low?

(Parker et al., 2006;

Lyon, Parker, & Schatzberg, 2010;

Parker & Maestripieri, 2011)

(Fox et al., 2001) (Gunnar et al., 2010)

Stress Physiology & EF

Blair & Berry, submitted

Stress & EF: Developmental ‘Inoculating’ Effects?

Stress Physiology & EF

FIML Regression; Robust Regression, Quantile Regression

• Why care?: Various ways of adjusting for oddities (e.g., leverage & influence)

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6

Ex

ecu

tiv

e F

un

ctio

n 6

0-m

on

ths

Within-Child SD in Cort 7-48 months (Plotted 5th to 95th %tile)

Lo Mean Cort

High Mean Cort

Some Tentative Conclusions

• Considering the intersection of children’s experiences at home and child care are likely critical to understanding the effect of either

• Child care exposure may mitigate the negative relation between family risk and a broad array of child outcomes—physiological, behavioral, and cognitive

• Executive functioning may be an important mediator

• Childcare mechanism remains unclear

• Unclear whether these processes are explained by effects on stress physiology

Thank You. Acknowledgements: Our gratitude to all of the families, children, and teachers who participated in

this research and to the Family Life Project research assistants for their hard work and dedication.

This research was supported by a grant from the NICHD (1PO1HD39667 and 2PO1HD039667).

Cofunding was provided by the NIDA, NIH Office of Minority Health, NIH-Office of the Director,

National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the Office of Behavioral and Social

Sciences Research.

The Family Life Project (FLP) Phase I:

*Lynne Vernon-Feagans, UNC-CH

Mark Greenberg, Penn State

Martha Cox, UNC-CH

*Clancy Blair, NYU

Peg Burchinal, UNC-CH

*Michael Willoughby, RTI

*Patricia Garrett-Peters, UNC-CH

*W. Roger Mills-Koonce, UNC- G

Maureen Ittig, Penn State

*Doug Granger, ASU

*Alexandra Ursache, Columbia

Jennifer Cole, Northwestern

Nancy McElwain, UIUC

Joseph Cimpian-Robinson, NYU