Early temperament and age at school entry predict task avoidance in elementary school
Introduction
Students' achievement behaviors in learning situations influence their academic performance and skill development (e.g., Aunola, K., et al., 2002, Fyrstén, S., et al., 2006). One form of maladaptive achievement behavior is task avoidance evidenced in a low level of effort in learning tasks and/or task-irrelevant activities, such as fooling around in the classroom and disturbing other students (Onatsu-Arvilommi & Nurmi, 2000). Task avoidance has been found to have detrimental effects on the development of both reading and math skills (e.g., Aunola, K., et al., 2002, Eklund, K. M., et al., 2013, Hirvonen, R., et al., 2012). Because of the dysfunctional role that task avoidance plays in learning situations, it is important to understand the origins of this type of behavior. In the present study we examined Finnish children's temperament, prereading skills, and age at school entry as predictors of children's task avoidance in kindergarten and the early grades of elementary school.
The beginning of formal schooling is a critical time for the formation of children's academic self-perceptions and school motivation (Aunola, K., et al., 2003, Heckhausen, J. and Heckhausen, H., 2008), because it is at school that children receive, for the first time, systematic feedback of their progress and begin to compare their achievement with that of others. The foundation for achievement-related behaviors is laid in children's early experiences and related feedback: previous levels of children's task-focused or task-avoidant behaviors from kindergarten age onward have been found to contribute to their behavior in subsequent situations (e.g., Aunola, K., et al., 2003, Onatsu-Arvilommi, T. and Nurmi, J.-E., 2000). Previous studies have not, however, considered whether there are different phases in the development of children's behavioral patterns. For example, school entry and other school transitions may lead to temporary increases in task avoidance, because children need to face a new learning environment and more challenging learning tasks. In contrast, task avoidance may decrease later on once the children have familiarized themselves with the new learning environment. The development of achievement-related behaviors may also follow different paths for different groups of children depending on what kind of learning experiences and possible difficulties they meet in their learning (see Poskiparta, Niemi, Lepola, Ahtola, and Laine (2003)).
The adoption of adaptive and maladaptive patterns of behavior (such as task avoidance) in learning situations can be explained from a motivational perspective. This perspective suggests that students' perceptions of their own ability affect their expectations in a particular task and further influence their motivation and effort expenditure in the task (e.g., Bandura, A., 1993, Wigfield, A. and Eccles, J. S., 2000). Studies have shown that children's good performance in reading or math at school age or already in preliteracy tasks in kindergarten can support their task-focused behaviors in school, whereas difficulties in learning or weaker preskills can later lead to increased levels of task-avoidant behaviors (e.g., Fyrstén, S., et al., 2006, Hirvonen, R., et al., 2012, Onatsu-Arvilommi, T. and Nurmi, J.-E., 2000). After repeated negative learning experiences, engaging in task-avoidant activities can be seen as a self-handicapping strategy in order to create an excuse for another failure the child is fearing to face (Jones & Berglas, 1978), or as a way to decrease anxiety in a learning situation (Miller, 1987).
During the past decades, there has been a growing interest in the role of temperament and personality in students' achievement-related motivation and behaviors (e.g., Bjørnebekk, G. and Diseth, Å., 2010, Elliot, A. J. and Thrash, T. M., 2002, Rothbart, M. K. and Hwang, J., 2005). The balance between approach versus avoidance motives, on the one hand, and between reactivity versus self-regulation, on the other hand, is in the focus of both theories of motivational systems and theories of temperament and personality (see Ahadi and Rothbart (1994); Derryberry and Rothbart (1997); Elliot, A. J. and Thrash, T. M., 2002, Elliot, A. J. and Thrash, T. M., 2010). Both research traditions have also used concepts such as task orientation, task-related behavior, on-task behavior, and persistence. Elliot, A. J. and Thrash, T. M., 2002, Elliot, A. J. and Thrash, T. M., 2010 have argued that the neurobiological, affective, and motivational aspects of personality converge into the construct of approach/avoidance temperament. Approach temperament (containing extraversion, positive emotionality, and behavioral activation system) is defined as a neurobiological sensitivity toward positive or desirable stimuli, directing individuals' attentional, affective, and behavioral responses toward such stimuli. By contrast, avoidance temperament (consisting of neuroticism, negative emotionality, and behavioral inhibition system) is defined as an analogous sensitivity toward negative or undesirable stimuli, resulting in individuals' attentional, affective, and behavioral responses away from such stimuli. It has been further suggested that individuals' achievement motivation, for example the pursuit of approach and avoidance goals, is directed by these neurobiological sensitivities toward either positive and desirable or negative and undesirable stimuli, respectively (Elliot, A. J. and Thrash, T. M., 2002, Elliot, A. J. and Thrash, T. M., 2010; see also Bjørnebekk and Diseth (2010)). Avoidance orientation in learning situations would thus be instigated by a motive to avoid negative outcomes, such as looking incompetent to others or failing to understand the course materials.
The present study applies the theoretical framework of Rothbart and colleagues (Derryberry, D. and Rothbart, M. K., 1997, Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2001), which defines temperament as individual differences in emotional and behavioral reactivity as well as differences in the self-regulation of this reactivity (Henderson, H. A. and Wachs, T. D., 2007, Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2000). These differences are constitutional, genetically influenced and visible soon after birth, but temperament also develops over time as a result of maturation and socialization processes and individuals' experiences in different environments (Henderson, H. A. and Wachs, T. D., 2007, Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2001). Rothbart and her colleagues (Derryberry, D. and Rothbart, M. K., 1997, Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2001) have identified three dimensions of temperament: effortful control, negative affectivity, and surgency/extraversion. The self-regulative aspect of temperament, effortful control, refers to the ability to willfully suppress a dominant response in order to perform a subdominant response (Posner & Rothbart, 2000). Individuals with high effortful control have a high ability to direct, shift, and maintain attention and to control or inhibit one's impulses (e.g., Henderson, H. A. and Wachs, T. D., 2007, Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2001). At kindergarten and elementary school age, high effortful control has been found to be positively related to, for example, students' academic self-efficacy (Liew, McTigue, Barrois, & Hughes, 2008), academic competence (Valiente, C., et al., 2010, Valiente, C., et al., 2008, Zhou, Q., et al., 2010), school liking (Valiente, Swanson, & Lemery-Chalfant, 2012), and classroom participation (Valiente, C., et al., 2008, Valiente, C., et al., 2012). Negative affectivity as a temperamental facet refers to individual differences in the threshold, intensity, and recovery of negative emotions such as anger, frustration, fear, discomfort, and sadness (Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2000, Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2001). Individuals high in negative affectivity are sensitive to negative cues in the environment and prone to express and dwell on intense negative feelings, for example if their needs, hopes, or expectations are not met. Among kindergarten and elementary school students, these characteristics have been found to be associated with negative outcomes, such as low classroom participation and school performance, and high externalizing and internalizing problem behavior (e.g., Eisenberg, N., et al., 2009, Valiente, C., et al., 2010, Valiente, C., et al., 2012, Zhou, Q., et al., 2010). Finally, surgency/extraversion is characterized by impulsivity, a high activity level, high-intensity pleasure, and a lack of shyness (Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2000, Rothbart, M. K., et al., 2001). Individuals high in extraversion are active and rapid in their responses, seek intense stimuli, do not mind taking risks, and are comfortable with new people and new situations. High impulsivity has been found to relate to children's externalizing problems (Eisenberg et al., 2009) and low classroom participation and school liking (Valiente et al., 2012), whereas behavioral inhibition (or shyness) contributes negatively to academic achievement (Valiente et al., 2010) and school engagement (Hughes & Coplan, 2010). Temperamental characteristics may also work in interaction. For example, effortful control has been suggested to play a moderating role in the relationship between negative affect and socio-emotional or cognitive functioning: Children's high negative affectivity has been shown to be related to high externalizing problems (Moran, Lengua, & Zalewski, 2013) and attentional bias toward threat (Lonigan & Vasey, 2009), but only when accompanied by low effortful control. On the other hand, a study of Valiente et al. (2010) suggested that at low levels of negative affect, children with high effortful control performed academically better than children with low effortful control, whereas at high levels of negative affect, all children showed similar academic achievement regardless of their effortful control.
Although the role of temperament in the school context has been previously studied from several aspects and found to play a significant role, for example, in students' academic achievement (e.g., Valiente, C., et al., 2010, Zhou, Q., et al., 2010), and internalizing and externalizing problem behavior in school (e.g., Eisenberg, N., et al., 2009, Zhou, Q., et al., 2010), there are a limited number of studies on the predictive links of temperament to the development of achievement behaviors, such as task-avoidant behavior, during the early school years. Cross-sectional studies have reported positive associations between classroom participation and effortful control (Valiente, C., et al., 2008, Valiente, C., et al., 2012), and negative associations between classroom engagement and impulsivity, anger, and shyness (Hughes, K. and Coplan, R. J., 2010, Valiente, C., et al., 2012). Temperament explains students' classroom behaviors because individual differences in temperament affect the way students perceive and react to learning situations and learning tasks, the things they orient their attention to, and their ability to plan, initiate, and perform actions that are relevant for task completion (cf. Rothbart and Hwang (2005)). However, previous studies have not considered whether temperament also contributes to changes in students' achievement behaviors across time as a result of increasing number of learning experiences the students have gained in different situations, and because of individual differences in how the students respond and adapt to changes in their learning environment, for example during school transitions. As an exception, the recent study of Hirvonen, Aunola, Alatupa, Viljaranta, and Nurmi (2013) examined the contribution of teacher-rated temperament to changes in children's tester-rated achievement behaviors during Grade 1 of elementary school. The findings showed that distractibility was related to a high level of task avoidance and an increase of task avoidance during the first grade, whereas behavioral inhibition was associated with high anxiety and helpless behavior but not with changes in them. Helpless behavior was characterized as a passive form of avoidance (i.e., giving up and withdrawing), whereas task avoidance can be described as an attempt to avoid tasks by actively engaging in task-irrelevant activities.
In addition to being influenced by their previous learning experiences and temperamental characteristics, children's behavior in learning situations can be affected by various cognitive factors. One of such factors is child's cognitive readiness in relation to language learning and reading acquisition. For example, familial risk of dyslexia and low early cognitive skills increase the probability of reading difficulties (Eklund, K. M., et al., 2013, Puolakanaho, A., et al., 2007). However, task-focused behavior in learning situations can act as a protective factor against the harmful effects of cognitive risks (Eklund et al., 2013). In the present study, we examine the extent to which familial risk of dyslexia and prereading skills contribute to children's task-avoidant behavior.
Another potentially important factor for the questions we focus on in the present study is the chronological age of children. In classrooms, age differences between children can be almost a year depending on which month they are born in. This age difference can cause considerable differences between children in their school readiness, that is, in their cognitive, emotional, and social skills (Blair, C., 2002, Datar, A. and Gottfried, M., 2013, Macdonald, J. A., et al., 2014). Children at this age develop fast, for example in respect to their academic skills, social skills, and physiological abilities to sit still and to stay attentive for the whole school day. It is justified to assume that age differences at the time of school entry are likely to be reflected in children's level of maturity and their ability to regulate their behavior in the classroom (Datar, A. and Gottfried, M., 2013, Macdonald, J. A., et al., 2014, Mühlenweg, A., et al., 2012), such as their task-avoidant behavior. In Finland, children enter first grade of elementary school in August of the year they turn seven. In the present study, this is referred to as the time of school entry.
In the present study we examined children's task avoidance from kindergarten through Grade 3 of elementary school in order to understand how task-avoidant behavior changes during the first critical years of children's school careers. There have been longitudinal inspections in previous studies as well, but usually they have not considered whether the nature of development of children's task-avoidant behavior is different at different stages of children's school careers. As learning contexts, kindergarten and elementary school differ from each other and set different demands for children and their behavior. Children may react in various ways when moving from a less structured and less academically oriented kindergarten environment to a more formal school environment. In Finland, kindergarten education is less focused on academic skills such as learning to read, than for example on supporting the development of social skills (National Board of Education, 2010). The change in the emphasis from non-academic skills to academic skills may affect children's achievement behaviors when they move from kindergarten to elementary school. In another Finnish study, it was found that differences between poor readers and good readers in their motivational orientations were not yet apparent in kindergarten, but in Grades 1 and 2 when the prospective poor readers started to face difficulties in learning to read and write, they showed less task orientation, and more social dependence and ego-defensiveness than the prospective good decoders and good readers (Poskiparta et al., 2003). Consequently, we considered it important to study the development of task avoidance in a piecewise manner, separating the transition from kindergarten to elementary school from the development of later school years. Furthermore, we examined individual factors in early childhood that would explain the level and changes of children's task avoidance in later learning situations. Previous studies have mostly concentrated on simultaneous or closely preceding antecedents of task avoidance, such as children's skill development or parents' beliefs about their offspring's competence at school (e.g., Aunola, K., et al., 2002, Aunola, K., et al., 2003, Mägi, K., et al., 2011, Onatsu-Arvilommi, T. and Nurmi, J.-E., 2000). Instead, in this study we used parental ratings of children's temperament at the age of 3, distinctly before school entry (age 7 in Finland). An early assessment of temperament was considered essential for the rating to better reflect children's dispositional traits instead of learned affective and behavioral responses, shaped by children's school-related experiences. Regarding the contribution of skill development and cognitive skills, we used measures of prereading skills at the age of 5. The significance of age differences was taken into account by including children's age at school entry as one of the predictors of their task avoidance.
The following research questions were examined: How does children's task-avoidant behavior change (a) from kindergarten to the beginning of Grade 2, and (b) from the beginning of Grade 2 to the end of Grade 3? To what extent do children's temperament, prereading skills, and age at school entry predict the changes in children's task avoidance?
Some previous findings have suggested that the level of children's task-avoidant behaviors increases during kindergarten and the first grades of elementary school (see Hirvonen, R., et al., 2012, Hirvonen, R., et al., 2013), but these studies have not examined the different stages of development separately. Thus, although there were no studies to build hypotheses on, we assumed that children's task-avoidant behavior would first increase by the beginning of the second year in elementary school (after the transition from kindergarten to formal schooling), but would then decrease or stay at the same level in later school grades when children adjust to the demands of school. Furthermore, because regulative aspects of temperament have been found to contribute to low task avoidance (Hirvonen et al., 2013) and high classroom participation and school liking (Valiente, C., et al., 2008, Valiente, C., et al., 2012), we expected effortful control to be negatively associated with task avoidance. A positive association was expected between negative affectivity and task avoidance, because high negative emotionality has been found to be related to negative outcomes, such as high problem behavior and low school liking (e.g., Eisenberg, N., et al., 2009, Valiente, C., et al., 2012, Zhou, Q., et al., 2010). Similarly, because characteristics such as impulsivity have been found to relate to externalizing problems and low classroom participation and school liking (e.g., Eisenberg, N., et al., 2009, Valiente, C., et al., 2012), we expected surgency/extraversion to be positively related to task-avoidant behavior. Children's prereading skills were expected to be negatively related to their task-avoidant behavior in kindergarten and school (see Fyrstén et al. (2006); Onatsu-Arvilommi and Nurmi (2000)). Based on the findings on the effect of age on children's self-regulation ability (see Datar and Gottfried (2013); Macdonald et al. (2014); Mühlenweg et al. (2012)), we expected that children's age at school entry (and consequently, at the time of the assessments) would contribute to the level of and changes in their task avoidance, with children born in the beginning of the year being ahead of the younger children in self-regulation and thus showing less task-avoidant behavior in kindergarten and early school years. Finally, familial risk of dyslexia and parents' level of education were included in the analyses as control variables, because it was assumed they could be related to parents' ratings of children's temperament or to children's prereading skills and task avoidance (see Eklund et al. (2013)). The link from familial risk of dyslexia and parental education to task avoidance can be direct or mediated via children's prereading skills.
Section snippets
The Finnish school system
Before they begin their compulsory education, Finnish children have the possibility to attend kindergarten for one year. At the time of the present study, participating in kindergarten education was voluntary, but nationally the participation rate was high (89.9% in 2000; Statistics Finland, 2008). Kindergarten education is free of charge, and it is usually organized in local day care centers or elementary schools. In kindergarten, there is no formal teaching of literacy and numeracy, but
Descriptive statistics
The means, standard deviations, and correlations between the study variables are presented in Table 1. Significant gender differences were found in effortful control and teacher-rated task avoidance: girls were rated higher than boys in effortful control (t(192) = 3.13, p < .01; Cohen's d = .45), and lower in task avoidance in kindergarten (t(186) = − 2.52, p < .05; Cohen's d = .37), Grade 2 fall (t(182) = − 1.98, p < .05; Cohen's d = .29), Grade 2 spring (t(160) = − 2.07, p < .05; Cohen's d = .33) and Grade 3 spring (t
Discussion
This study had two aims. The first aim was to examine how children's task-avoidant behavior changed from kindergarten to Grade 2 and from Grade 2 to Grade 3. The second aim was to examine the antecedents (temperament, prereading skills, and age at school entry) of this behavior. The results showed that, on average, children's task-avoidant behavior remained at the same level from kindergarten to the beginning of Grade 2, but decreased thereafter. Moreover, the results showed that high levels of
Acknowledgements
The study and the preparation of the manuscript were supported by grants from the Academy of Finland (266851, 276239, 264264, and 252304).
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