THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL SELF-REGULATION AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE AMONG MALTREATED SCHOOL-AGE-CHILDREN

Behavioral and emotional self-regulation are important aspects of comp etence in school-age children. Despite the apparent interrelatedness o f behavioral and affective processes, empirical approaches to the deve lopment of self-regulation typically have investigated these systems s eparately. As a result, their relative effects upon social competence remain, for the most part, an open question. This study, working from an organizational and developmental psychopathology perspective, attem pted to investigate developmental processes that place maltreated chil dren at risk for impaired peer relationships by assessing the independ ent and relative influences of behavioral and emotional regulation on social competence in school-age children. Subjects were maltreated chi ldren, who are at risk for both attenuated self-regulation and impaire d peer relationships, and economically disadvantaged nonmaltreated com parison children. Observations were conducted during a summer day camp , an ecologically valid context in which to study children's social in teractions. As predicted, maltreated children were found to be deficie nt in behavioral and affective regulation, relative to nonmaltreated c hildren. Furthermore, attenuated self-regulation mediated the effects of maltreatment on children's social competence. Results highlighted t he unique contributions of both behavior and affect in predicting peer competence, suggesting that a more comprehensive approach to the stud y of self-regulation is warranted.