Investigating Individual Differences in the Self-Regulation Behaviors among Preschoolers

The present study investigated possible age and gender differences in the behavioral self-regulation of economically disadvantaged preschool children between 3- and 5-years-old. The children were assessed using a modified version of the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (PSRA). This version of the PSRA utilized five tasks, focused on compliance or impulse control. After controlling for intelligence, age, and parental education, males were significantly more impulsive than females on the two impulse control tasks but only performed lower than females on one of the three compliance tasks. Environmental and potential biological explanations for these findings are discussed