Profiles of self-regulation in elementary grades: Relations to math and reading skills

This longitudinal study investigated the development of cognitive and behavioral aspects of self-regulation and their relations to math and reading skills at the beginning of elementary school. Planning and task-persistent behavior (as the cognitive and behavioral aspects of self-regulation) were assessed in the classroom context. Participants were 775 children (mean age at the beginning of school 7.46, SD = 0.52). Using a person-oriented approach, five developmental profile groups of self-regulation were differentiated. The results showed that the development of the cognitive and behavioral asrpects of self-regulation varies individually and that the associations between the cognitive and behavioral aspects of self-regulation differ at different time-points. Math and reading skills at the end of Grade 3 differed between these profile groups - the explained variance was greater for complex math and reading tasks (problem solving, reading comprehension) compared to the less complex tasks (calculation, word reading fluency).