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The Impact of Self-Regulation on Preschool Mathematical Achievement

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Abstract

The present studies aimed at investigating whether children’s risk for self-regulatory failure implicates poor academic outcomes even before the start of formal instruction. Therefore, we analyzed the association between children’s self-regulation abilities (i.e., operationalized with different paradigms) and academic achievement (i.e., early math skills). In Study 1, we found that parent-rated self-regulation predicted early math skills in preschool children. Additionally, the time that children managed to successfully delay a response predicted early math skills. In Study 2, we found that self-regulated behavior in preschool children as measured in a newly developed computerized delay task predicted early math skills. The results are discussed with respect to the importance of children’s self-regulation abilities for successful academic achievement.

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Notes

  1. The German preschool is known as kindergarten. Children between the ages of three and six attend kindergartens that are not part of the German school system. For ease of exposition we refer to these institutions as preschools in the present paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research on Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk (IDeA), Solmsstr. 73, 60486, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Caterina Gawrilow, Lena Guderjahn & Julia Merkt

  2. German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Solmsstr. 73, 60486, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Caterina Gawrilow & Julia Merkt

  3. Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany

    Caterina Gawrilow

  4. Research Group “The Empirics of Education”, University of Freiburg, Bismarckallee 22, 79085, Freiburg, Germany

    Anika Fäsche, Catherine Gunzenhauser & Antje von Suchodoletz

  5. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Lena Guderjahn

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  1. Caterina Gawrilow
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  2. Anika Fäsche
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  3. Lena Guderjahn
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  4. Catherine Gunzenhauser
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  6. Antje von Suchodoletz
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Correspondence to Caterina Gawrilow.

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This research was partly funded by the Hessian initiative for the development of scientific and economic excellence (LOEWE, Study 1) and by a grant given to the research group “The Empirics of Education: Economic and Behavioral Perspectives” in the context of the German Excellence Initiative at the University of Freiburg (Study 2).

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Gawrilow, C., Fäsche, A., Guderjahn, L. et al. The Impact of Self-Regulation on Preschool Mathematical Achievement. Child Ind Res 7, 805–820 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-013-9201-y

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