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Effortful Control in “Hot” and “Cool” Tasks Differentially Predicts Children’s Behavior Problems and Academic Performance

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Abstract

Effortful control (EC), the capacity to deliberately suppress a dominant response and perform a subdominant response, rapidly developing in toddler and preschool age, has been shown to be a robust predictor of children’s adjustment. Not settled, however, is whether a view of EC as a heterogeneous rather than unidimensional construct may offer advantages in the context of predicting diverse developmental outcomes. This study focused on the potential distinction between “hot” EC function (delay-of-gratification tasks that called for suppressing an emotionally charged response) and more abstract “cool” EC functions (motor inhibition tasks, suppressing-initiating response or Go-No Go tasks, and effortful attention or Stroop-like tasks). Children (N = 100) were observed performing EC tasks at 38 and 52 months. Mothers, fathers, and teachers rated children’s behavior problems and academic performance at 67, 80, and 100 months, and children participated in a clinical interview at 100 months. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses with latent variables produced consistent findings across all informants: Children’s scores in “hot” EC tasks, presumably engaging emotion regulation skills, predicted behavior problems but not academic performance, whereas their scores in “cool” EC tasks, specifically those engaging effortful attention, predicted academic performance but not behavior problems. The models of EC as a heterogeneous construct offered some advantages over the unidimensional models. Methodological and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been funded by the grants from NIMH, R01 MH63096 and K02 MH01446, and R01 HD069171 from NICHD to Grazyna Kochanska, who was also supported by the Stuit Professorship. We thank many individuals, including Jarilyn Akabogu, Jessica O’Bleness, and Robin Barry for help with data collection, coding, and file creation, and the parents and children in Family Study for their enthusiastic commitment to this research. The HBQ was made available free of charge by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Psychopathology and Development (David J. Kupfer, Network Chair).

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242-1407, USA

    Sanghag Kim, Jamie Koenig Nordling, Jeung Eun Yoon, Lea J. Boldt & Grazyna Kochanska

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  1. Sanghag Kim
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Kim, S., Nordling, J.K., Yoon, J.E. et al. Effortful Control in “Hot” and “Cool” Tasks Differentially Predicts Children’s Behavior Problems and Academic Performance. J Abnorm Child Psychol 41, 43–56 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9661-4

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