The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life

This study examined longitudinally the development of self-regulation in 10 8 young children during the first 4 years of life. Children's committed com pliance (when they eagerly embraced maternal agenda) and situational compli ance (when they cooperated, but without a sincere commitment) were studied. Both forms of compliance were observed in "Do" contexts, in which the moth ers requested that the children sustain unpleasant, tedious behavior, and i n "Don't" contexts, in which they requested that the children suppress plea sant, attractive behavior. Children's internalization while alone in the si milar contexts was also studied. Parallel assessments were conducted when t he children were 14, 22, 33, and 45 months of age. At all ages, the Do cont ext was much more challenging for children than the Don't context. Girls su rpassed boys in committed compliance. Both forms of compliance were longitu dinally stable, but only within a given context. Children's fearfulness and effortful control, observed and mother reported, correlated positively wit h committed compliance, but mostly in the Don't context. Committed, but not situational, compliance was linked to children's internalization of matern al rules, observed when the children were alone in the Do and Don't context s. These links were both concurrent and longitudinal, context specific, and significant even after controlling for maternal power assertion. There was modest preliminary evidence that committed compliance may generalize to in teractions with adults other than the mother.