Measuring self-regulation in a physically active context: Psychometric analyses of scores derived from an observer-rated measure of self-regulation

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Highlights

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    The RCS measures self regulation in response to a physical challenge course.

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    Observer-rated cognitive regulation correlated with cognitive task performance.

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    Affective and cognitive regulation were associated with prosocial behavior.

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    Cognitive regulation was negatively correlated with inattention and hyperactivity.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to report psychometric properties of scores obtained using a novel observer-rated measure of children's self-regulation, the Response to Challenge Scale (RCS). The RCS was developed to rate children's self-regulatory abilities in a physically active context (e.g., while completing a physical challenge course). The RCS and other study measures were administered in a private school sample of 207 children. Analyses of score distributions indicated that the RCS was able to capture variance among children in self-regulatory abilities; the distribution was normal for the Affective, Cognitive, and Total Self-Regulation scales. Validity analyses revealed significant positive correlations between Cognitive, Affective, Motor, and Total Self-Regulation and executive function task performance; significant negative correlations between Cognitive Regulation and teacher-rated hyperactivity and inattention; significant negative correlations between Affective, Motor, and Total Self-Regulation and teacher ratings of peer problems; and significant positive correlations between Cognitive and Affective Regulation and parent ratings of prosocial behavior. Parent and teacher rated Total Difficulties scores were both negatively correlated with RCS Total Self-Regulation scores. Results suggest that it is possible for observers to rate self-regulatory abilities in the context of physical activities, and that these ratings correspond with performance on tasks requiring executive function as well as teacher and parent ratings of children's difficulties.

Section snippets

Self-regulation and physical activity

Physically active interventions can contribute to the promotion of self-regulation in children. There is growing evidence indicating that physical activity is important for optimal cognitive and behavioral functioning in children (e.g., Budde et al., 2008, Davis et al., 2007, Diamond & Lee, 2011; Diamond, 2013, Tomporowski et al., 2008; Tomporowski, Lambourne, & Okumura, 2011). Lakes and Hoyt (2004) demonstrated that a Taekwondo intervention promoted self-regulatory abilities (based on ratings

The present study

In spite of the strong evidence for the generalizability and factor structure of the RCS, it is important also to examine the degree to which ratings of self-regulation in a physically active setting correspond with other measures of regulatory skills, including executive function task performance and global parent and teacher ratings of children's abilities. Thus, several measures were selected as the standard against which to test the RCS; these included the Freedom from Distractibility Index

Participants

Participants in this study were children who participated in a prior randomized intervention study (Lakes & Hoyt, 2004). An entire private primary school (Kindergarten through 5th grade) in the Midwestern United States participated in the intervention, and parents for all but one child consented to the child's participation in the research (yielding N = 207). Slightly more than half (51%) of the participants were female. Eighty-three percent of participants were Caucasian, and 73% were from

Hypothesis 1: in a school-wide sample, RCS scores will be normally distributed, with a mean slightly higher than the midpoint in this high-achieving private school sample.

Means for all three RCS scales were slightly higher than the midpoint on the scale. Table 1 reports descriptive and psychometric results, including statistics for skewness and kurtosis. These statistics fell within the normal range for RCS Cognitive (Fig. 1), Affective (Fig. 2), and Total Self-Regulation (Fig. 4) scores. Contrary to our hypothesis, the distribution of scores for the Motor regulation scale was not normal (Fig. 3). The distributions for scores obtained on two measures of

Discussion

In a school-wide sample of children, RCS Affective and Cognitive Regulation scores were normally distributed. This finding was particularly noteworthy given the restricted variance in the sample that was evidenced in parent and teacher ratings. The ability of an instrument to produce a normal distribution in a school-wide sample is an important consideration in instrument selection for at least four reasons. Cohen and Cohen (1983) described two reasons, including “the opportunity for valid

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