Individuality and Self-regulation in Preschoolers

GILI, JUAN; PRATS, LUCÍA M.; GIOVANETTI, FEDERICO; HERMIDA, M. JULIA; LIPINA, SEBASTIÁN J.; FRACCHIA, CAROLINA; LOPEZ-ROSENFELD, MATÍAS; SEGRETIN, M. SOLEDAD

Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung

Deutsches Jugendinstitut

Año: 2016 vol. 11 p. 457 - 471

1862-5002

Different ways of solving planning and spatial working memory tasks generate different task-performance profiles. Tests were administered to 346 (planning) and 427 (spatial working memory) Argentinean children from different socio-economic (SES) backgrounds. A cross-sectional design was performed to ex-plore eventual variable profiles of performance that were associated with levels of success or failure on tasks that tapped working memory and planning de-mands and to evaluate their association with SES conditions. The results showed that (1) different task-performance profiles were identified: decreased, changeless, oscillated, or increased; (2) the total score for the tasks was signifi-cantly different among these profiles; and (3) there were significant differences in the total score among SES groups, which depended on type of profile. These findings suggested the importance of studying individual differences in the per-formance of tasks that demand self-regulatory processes of children with SES disadvantages. This is important for the understanding of how children solve problems, and how that behavior varies according to SES.