Development of self-control in early childhood— a growth mixture modeling approach

Abstract

Self-control emerges in early childhood and is shown to be strongly related to poor adulthood outcomes. The development of self-control was long believed to be homogeneous among individuals and stable in rank. The purpose of the current study was to (1) examine if multiple growth trajectories of self-control existed in early childhood by using growth mixture modeling approach, (2) investigate if growth trajectories of self-control were the function of child, family, and school characteristics. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011), we found (1) three distinct growth trajectories of self-control existed in the ECLS-K sample, namely, the high, medium, and low level of self-control; (2) self-control levels in all groups were relatively stable during early childhood; (3) teacher expectation and teacher-student relationship significantly predicted growth trajectories of self-control above and beyond certain child and family characteristics.