Daily fluctuations in young children’s persistence

Abstract

Children’s behavior changes from day to day, but the factors that contribute to its variability are understudied. We developed a novel repeated measures paradigm to study children’s persistence by capitalizing on a task children complete every day: toothbrushing. Children brushed longer on days when their parents encouraged them more (d=0.50), and when children were in a better mood (d=0.13; N=81; 48% female; 36-47 months; 80% white, 14% Multiracial, 10% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Black; 1195 observations). Factors that explain fluctuations in toothbrushing varied by child: some children were sensitive to prior night’s sleep and parent stress, but others were not. The toothbrushing task provides a powerful new paradigm for understanding daily fluctuations in children’s naturalistic behavior.

Organizing the Methodological Toolbox: Lessons Learned From Implementing Developmental Methods Online

“…In general, a study like this would share many of the advantages and disadvantages of an unmoderated study but might allow for some designs that would otherwise be impossible. For example, consider a study that focused on a particular daily routine and asked parents to record that routine, and ask specific questions during it, and then send those videos to the experimenter (Leonard et al, 2020). It is something of an edge case, but for certain research questions it may be the best approach.…”