Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Self-regulation serves as a pivotal skill for children to acquire early in life. Mastery of the skill leads to high academic achievement and increased sense of self-efficacy. Teachers play a major role in developing self-regulation in children. Consequently, the beliefs and practices that teachers hold regarding poor self-regulation (i.e. inattention and impulsivity) are to be understood and taken into account. The Self-Regulation Survey was created to capture teachers’ attributions for inattention and impulsivity along with subsequent chosen interventions in 52 participants. The results indicated that teachers attribute impulsivity to organic factors and family origin to a greater degree than classroom environment, instructional style, and motivation within the child. Inattention was attributed to the child’s family and intrinsic motivation. When intervening on the behavior, teachers most often chose to move the child closer to the teacher and contact the parent. Participants’ responses suggest differences amongst recommendations made for inattention versus those to impulsivity. Significant correlations existed between teachers’ attributions of inattentiveness and impulsivity and interventions. More specifically, teachers who attribute inattentiveness to biological factors are likely to choose medication as an intervention. Those who attribute inattention to inappropriate instruction were likely to prefer adjusting the method of instruction. Similarly, teachers who attributed impulsivity to biological factors were likely to choose medication as a preferred recommendation. Attribution of impulsivity to the child’s family was also correlated with teachers choosing to contact to parents. Results will inform future teacher trainings related to self-regulation.
Author: Marlana Ashe Webster
Institution: James Madison University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1910221908