The Contribution of Emotionality and Self-Regulation to the Understanding of Children’s Response to Multiple Risk

This study investigated the additive and interactive effects of multiple risk, emotionality, and self-regulation in predicting children's adjustment problems and positive adjustment using a community sample (N = 101) of children in third through fifth grades. Multiple measures of emotionality and self-regulation were used, including observational measures and mother and child report on questionnaires. Results indicated that questionnaire measures of emotionality and self-regulation predicted children's positive and negative adjustment over and above the effects of multiple risk, as well as resilience and vulnerability. Negative emotionality predicted adjustment problems, positive emotionality predicted positive adjustment, and self-regulation predicted both. In addition, observational measures of self-regulation moderated the association between multiple risk and adjustment such that children low in self-regulation were more vulnerable to multiple risk. The results suggest that emotionality and self-regulation operate as additional risk and protective factors in multiple-risk models.