The role of emotional regulation on early child school adjustment outcomes.
Harry Adynski, Cathi Propper, Linda Beeber and 3 others
PMID 39034079WHAT IT FOUND
Parent and teacher reports of young children's emotional regulation often disagreed.
Parent-reported lability and negativity was more consistent across settings and linked to poorer teacher-rated social skills, academic performance, and school adjustment.
Key findings
01Parent-reported emotional dysregulation did not correlate significantly with teacher-reported emotional regulation, but parent-reported lability/negativity did correlate with teacher-reported lability/negativity and dysregulation.
02Higher parent-reported lability/negativity was associated with lower teacher-rated social skills and poorer academic performance, including academic productivity, success, and competence.
03Teacher-reported dysregulation and lability/negativity were associated with lower second-grade math scores, while teacher-reported regulation was associated with higher math and literacy scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The data are from 2002 to 2010 and may not represent children today. Teacher response rates were low, so many analyses used averaged scores rather than following each child over time. Some emotional regulation subscales had weak internal reliability, especially parent and teacher regulation scores and the CBCL anxiety/depression subscale. Emotional regulation was measured only by parent and teacher reports, without direct observation or physiological measures. The study adjusted for only a limited set of individual and family factors, not changing income or marital status over time or broader school and community factors. Because it was observational, it cannot show that emotional regulation causes school adjustment problems or that screening or intervention improves outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that emotional regulation interventions improve school adjustment. This study only observed associations in old cohort data, and parent and teacher reports frequently disagreed.