The Development of Regulatory Functions From Birth to 5 Years: Insights From Premature Infants

• Published in: Child development Vol. 80; no. 2; pp. 544 - 561
• Main Author: Feldman, Ruth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2009; Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adaptation, Psychological; Age Differences; Age Factors; Attention; Babies; Behavior problems; Behavioral neuroscience; Biological and medical sciences; Biology; Child Behavior - physiology; Child Behavior - psychology; Child Development; Child, Preschool; Children; Circadian Rhythm - physiology; Cognition; Coherence; Consciousness; Developmental biology; Developmental psychology; Emotional Development; Emotional expression; Emotional regulation; Emotions; Empirical Articles; Family studies; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gestational Age; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature - growth & development; Infant, Premature - physiology; Infant, Premature - psychology; Infants; Male; Neurological Organization; Neuropsychological Tests; Newborn. Infant; Physical Development; Physiological regulation; Physiology; Predictor Variables; Premature; Premature Infants; Preschool education; Psychological stress; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Regulation; Responses; Self Control; Selfregulation; Sleep; Sleep - physiology; Social Environment; Stress Management; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Structural Equation Models; Studies; Time Factors; Toddlers; Vagus Nerve - physiology; Wakefulness - physiology; Young Children; Human; Preschool age; Premature; Affect affectivity; Attention; Infant; Cognition; Emotion emotionality; Cardiorespiratory control; Follow up study; Development; Self regulation; Sleep wake cycle; Child
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01278.x

This study examined physiological, emotional, and attentional regulatory functions as predictors of self-regulation in 125 infants followed 7 times from birth to 5 years. Physiological regulation was assessed by neonatal vagal tone and sleep-wake cyclicity; emotion regulation by response to stress at 3, 6, and 12 months; and attention regulation by focused attention and delayed response in the 2nd year. Executive functions, behavior adaptation, and self-restraint were measured at 5 years. Regulatory functions showed stability across time, measures, and levels. Structural modeling demonstrated both mediated paths from physiological to self-regulation through emotional and attentional processes and direct continuity between vagal tone and each level of regulation. Results support the coherence of the regulation construct and are consistent with neurobiological models on self and consciousness.