Fluctuations in children’s self-regulation and parent-child interaction in everyday life: An ambulatory assessment study

Abstract

Self-regulation has mostly been studied as an intrapersonal trait which fluctuates across time and impacts everyday behavior related to individual goal pursuit and achievement. Although it is plausible that self-regulation affects not only individuals but also their social network, there is less research on how self-regulation levels and fluctuations are linked to social processes in daily life, such as interactions between children and their parents. To this end, this study tracked children’s (aged 9 to 11 years; N = 70) self-regulation, and their daily interaction quality with parents, across 54 days, using child and parental self-reports. Participants reported higher interaction quality in dyads in which children showed higher self-regulation levels in comparison to others, as well as on days on which children showed higher self-regulation compared to their typical levels. The extent of this association varied between dyads, which needs to be addressed in future studies. As self-regulation and parent-child interaction quality fluctuate in parallel, this study suggests that researchers should aim to understand the underlying mechanisms in order to develop dynamic self-regulation interventions in family contexts and improve family well-being.