Date of Award
5-11-2025
Date Published
June 2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Human Development and Family Science
Advisor(s)
Rachel Razza
Keywords
behavioral self-regulation;Latent Class Analysis;longitudinal design;Material hardship;Mixture Modeling;person-centered approach
Subject Categories
Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
Behavioral self-regulation in childhood lays the foundation for lifelong adaptive functioning, including academic achievement, social relationships, and psychological well-being. While early poverty is consistently linked to worse behavioral self-regulation, less is known about how the timing, types, and changes in material hardship (i.e., daily experiences of deprivation), shape children’s development of behavioral self-regulation. This dissertation addresses these literature gaps through three interconnected studies that examine the dynamic association between material hardship and behavioral self-regulation across childhood, including (1) how early exposure to distinct patterns of material hardship in infancy shapes children’s behavioral self-regulation developmental trajectory from early to middle childhood; (2) how continuity and change in material hardship domains from infancy to preschool years relate to behavioral self-regulation in middle childhood; and (3) how transient fluctuation and persistent exposure to material hardship influences the development of behavioral self-regulation from early to middle childhood. In Study 1, we identified four distinct patterns of material hardship domains in infancy and found that material hardship class membership was associated with children’s behavioral self-regulation developmental trajectories from early to middle childhood. In Study 2, we uncovered four conjoint trajectories of material hardship across five domains during early childhood, varied by persistence, fluctuation, and intensity, with persistent and pervasive hardship class linked to the lowest levels of behavioral self-regulation in middle childhood. In Study 3, we found that transient fluctuations in hardship predicted contemporaneous declines in behavioral self-regulation, while persistent exposure to hardship affected initial levels of behavioral self-regulation. Together, this dissertation highlights the multifaceted and dynamic nature of material hardship and recognizes the malleability and adaptation of the development of behavioral self-regulation amidst economic adversity. The general discussion chapter of this dissertation offers critical implications for developmental theories, the design of targeted prevention and intervention programs, and future research directions.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Liu, Qingyang, "Behavioral Self-regulation in Context: Timing, Types, and Changes of Material Hardship Across Childhood" (2025). Dissertations - ALL. 2073.
https://surface.syr.edu/etd/2073
