Premium
Kindergarten Self‐Regulation As a Predictor of Body Mass Index and Sports Participation in Fourth Grade Students
Author(s) -
Piché Geneviève,
Fitzpatrick Caroline,
Pagani Linda S.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
mind, brain, and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.624
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1751-228X
pISSN - 1751-2271
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-228x.2011.01132.x
Subject(s) - body mass index , longitudinal study , psychology , psychological intervention , confounding , developmental psychology , perspective (graphical) , early childhood , child development , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , pathology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Identifying early precursors of body mass index (BMI) and sports participation represents an important concern from a public health perspective and can inform the development of preventive interventions. This article examines whether kindergarten child self‐regulation, as measured by classroom engagement and behavioral regulation, predicts healthy dispositions in fourth grade. To address this objective, secondary analyses were conducted using prospective‐longitudinal data from 966 children followed by the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Self‐regulatory skills, including classroom engagement and behavioral regulation, were measured by kindergarten teachers. Greater self‐regulatory skills predicted lower BMI and greater parent‐reported child sports participation, after controlling for a number of potentially confounding child and family characteristics. This article suggests that assessing kindergarten self‐regulatory capacities may help identify children at risk of developing unhealthy dispositions and behaviors in middle childhood.