SELF-REGULATION, EMOTION EXPRESSION & CLASSROOM ...

In addition to the moderation of gender, observing the data through the lens of
school type revealed some interesting findings. It was hypothesized that self-regulation
may actually play a more impactful role for children who are at increased socioeconomic
risk (Head Start children, for example). More specifically, it was tested whether or not
self-regulation has a larger impact on the classroom learning behaviors of children at
increased socioeconomic risk (e.g. Garner & Spears, 2000; Raver & Spagnola, 2003;
Shultz et al., 2001). First, cool executive control was found to have a direct impact on
the competence motivation for both private day care and Head Start children. However,
for private day care children, cool executive control significantly predicted attention/
persistence as well. Hot executive control was indirectly related to classroom learning
behaviors for private day care children. Second, it was found that for Head Start
children, there was a strong mediating relationship between self-regulation and
classroom learning behaviors via on-task involvement. In fact, the mediating influence of
on-task involvement predicting classroom learning behaviors was one of the most
statistically significant findings of the investigation. This result may suggest that the
previous research showing a link between self-regulation and classroom success for
children at socioeconomic risk may not actually be a direct relation, but instead is
mediated by a child’s ability to remain on-task in the classroom.
58