Family context of low-income young children and their self-regulation in the United States and Turkey

Abstract

The current study examines the contributions of family context (e.g. life events, home environments) to low-income preschool children's self-regulation (behaviour regulation and executive function) in the United States and Turkey. Participants were 1139 low-income children (486 from the U.S. and 653 from Turkey) and their parents. Children's self-regulation was assessed via structured tasks and family related variables such as life events, home environments, and demographic information were assessed via parent-report. Results from regression analyses showed that child's age-predicted behaviour regulation and executive function in children both from the U.S. and Turkey. Child gender, favouring girls predicted behaviour regulation and executive function and parent-child verbal interaction was associated with behaviour regulation only in the U.S. Family structure (favouring living in a two-parent household) predicted executive function and economic change predicted behaviour regulation in Turkey. Contributions and future directions were also discussed.