LANGUAGE AND SELF-CONTROL IN YOUNG-CHILDREN

Few studies examine the genesis of the development of self-regulation or the corresponding elements of self-control which is, according to K opp (1982), the stage preceding self-regulation. This study is an atte mpt to specify the association between self-control and language skill s in early childhood, and to examine the issue of gender variations wi th respect to self-control. The test group consisted of 67 Francophone infants including 32 18-month old (18 boys and 14 girls) and 35 24-mo nth old children (13 boys and 22 girls). During an interview in the fa mily home, three reward expectation tasks were administered to assess the child's self-control (see Vaughn, Kopp and Krakow, 1984) and the H earing and Speech Sub-quotient of the Griffiths Mental Development Sca les test (GMDS: Griffiths, 1954) was used to help assess the child's l anguage development. Results demonstrated that self-control varies dep ending upon age and sex: the 24-month old children expected more than the 18-month olds (p <.001) and girls exhibited more expectations than boys (p <.01). The relationship between expectation and the GMDS Hear ing and Speech Sub-quotient score was not significant for 18 months (r =.05, p =.79), however for 24 months these two variables were associa ted (r =.34, p <.05). The relationship between speech and expectation evidenced at two years of age supports the socio-historical perspectiv e for the development of self-regulation (Vygotski, 1934/1985) and the results concerning the superiority of girls revive the question of ge nder-specificity in the area of self-control.