Adolescents' Resilience as a Self‐Regulatory Process

Abstract:  This chapter focuses on the concept of self‐regulation as a measure of resilience in children and adolescents. Developmental psychology and neuroscience are converging on the role of attention control as a central ability underlying self‐regulation. We collected measures of adolescent attention control from parents and youth, and a measure of self‐regulation from teachers. The measures of effortful attention correlated highly with teacher ratings of self‐regulation. The composite measure of self‐regulation (youth, parent, teacher report) was found to moderate the impact of peer deviance on adolescent antisocial behavior, as well as stress on adolescent depression. These findings suggest that self‐regulation is a promising index of adolescent resilience. The construct of self‐regulation also provides an excellent target for strategies aimed to improve child and adolescent adjustment in problematic environments and stressful circumstances.

[1]  Mariann Suarez,et al.  Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change, 2nd Edition , 2006 .

[2]  D. Hay,et al.  Prosocial development. , 1994, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[3]  Suniya S. Luthar,et al.  Resilience in Development: A Synthesis of Research across Five Decades , 2015 .

[4]  Larry E. Toothaker,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions , 1991 .

[5]  Michael I. Posner,et al.  Attentional control and self-regulation. , 2004 .

[6]  G. Patterson,et al.  Therapist behavior as a determinant for client noncompliance: a paradox for the behavior modifier. , 1985, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[7]  D. Nagin,et al.  Trajectories leading to school-age conduct problems. , 2003, Developmental psychology.

[8]  Philip Barker,et al.  Intervening in Adolescent Problem Behavior: A Family-Centered Approach. , 2006 .

[9]  M. Posner,et al.  Developing mechanisms of self-regulation , 2000, Development and Psychopathology.

[10]  A. Masten,et al.  The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments. Lessons from research on successful children. , 1998, The American psychologist.

[11]  Thomas J. Dishion,et al.  Adolescent Self-Regulation as Resilience: Resistance to Antisocial Behavior within the Deviant Peer Context , 2008, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[12]  T. H. Holmes,et al.  The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. , 1967, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[13]  M. Ferguson,et al.  Beyond behaviorism: on the automaticity of higher mental processes. , 2000, Psychological bulletin.

[14]  B. Compas,et al.  Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[15]  E. Tory Higgins,et al.  Promotion and prevention strategies for self-regulation: A motivated cognition perspective. , 2004 .

[16]  Uta Frith,et al.  The Biological Basis of Social Interaction , 2001 .

[17]  A. Masten.  Developmental psychopathology: Pathways to the future , 2006 .

[18]  G. S. Pettit,et al.  The Interactive Influences of Friend Deviance and Reward Dominance on the Development of Externalizing Behavior During Middle Adolescence , 2006, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[19]  Barbara K. Keogh,et al.  Temperament , 1982 .

[20]  L. Lengua,et al.  Self-regulation as a moderator of the relation between coping and symptomatology in children of divorce , 1996, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[21]  Nancy Eisenberg,et al.  Effortful control: Relations with emotion regulation, adjustment, and socialization in childhood. , 2004 .

[22]  L. Derogatis,et al.  Brief Symptom Inventory Bsi Administration Scoring And Procedures Manual >>>CLICK HERE<<< , 1993 .

[23]  A. Masten,et al.  Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity , 1990, Development and Psychopathology.

[24]  J. Kaufman,et al.  Problems defining resiliency: Illustrations from the study of maltreated children , 1994, Development and Psychopathology.