Project Details
Projekt
The influence of peers on the development of self-regulation in class-rooms: A longitudinal multilevel-analysis
Applicant
Dr. Robert Busching
Subject Area
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426314138
Self-regulation is the ability to suppress dominant impulses to modify cognitions, emotions, and behavior. The development of this ability is central for academic and professional success as well as mental and physical health. Self-regulation is not a one-dimensional construct. Successful self-regulation requires the interaction of multiple basal and complex facets are necessary. Multiple predictors for self-regulation like e.g. biological differences or parental behavior were investigated. Less research attention was directed on the impact of peer’s behavior on individual self-regulation. Therefore, the goal of this project is to investigate the influence of classmate s, an important peer group for children and adolescents, on the development of self-regulation. They spend a large amount of the day together in school together with their classmates. Also, the composition of students in a class is stable over an extended time. Additionally, students and their parents often choose the student’s school, but they normally have little influence on their class within the school. As a result, socialization effects can be revealed by analyzing the classmates’ influence on individual behavior. During our project, we do not assume that everybody is affected to the same degree by their classmates’ behavior, but that students with a lower level of self-regulation are especially affected by the behavior of their classmates.One process that mediates the relationship between classmates’ self-regulation and individual self-regulation is the development of conduct problems such as aggressive or delinquent behavior. The lack of self-regulation is a well-established risk factor for conduct problems. At the same time, interacting with people who exhibit conduct problems can be considered a risk factor for lower self-regulation. To answer these research questions, a large longitudinal data set with three measurements will be used (N = 1,657). A fourth additional measurement will be collected during the project. Preliminary analyses of the data collected so far show that the class level can explain significant variance of self-regulation. Also, a two-dimensional structure with one cognitive and one emotional dimension was observed.
DFG Programme
Research Units
