Schoolwork effort and emotions predict self-control in a weekly diary study

Abstract

Objective: Self-control supports many positive life outcomes. However, the processes underlying the development of self-control are not well understood. Drawing on the TESSERA model of personality development, we examined whether weekly schoolwork effort predicts self-control (in the subsequent week). We also examined the role of schoolwork emotions and whether these emotions moderated the impact of schoolwork effort on self-control based on predictions from the TESSERA model. Methods: Data are from a weekly diary study (N = 98) that measured children's schoolwork effort, schoolwork emotions, and self-control during five consecutive weeks. Data were analyzed at the between- and within-person levels using multilevel models. Results: Between-person results show that schoolwork effort is related to variations in children's self-control. Furthermore, some emotions moderated the influence of schoolwork effort on self-control at the between- and within-person levels. Conclusion: In line with the TESSERA model of personality development, positive state expressions of effort during schoolwork (e.g., putting in effort) predicted higher self-control in the subsequent week. However, this finding was dependent on the reactions and reinforcement children felt about their effort (e.g., emotional responses to their remote schoolwork). The discussion examines how these findings extend to previous literature.