My Brain Needs a Break: Kindergarteners’ Willpower Theories Are Related to Behavioral Self-Regulation

Abstract

Is the way that kindergarteners view their willpower – as a limited or as a non-limited resource – related to their motivation and behavioral self-regulation? This study is the first to examine the structure of beliefs about willpower in relation to behavioral self-regulation by interviewing 147 kindergarteners (52% girls) aged 5 to 7 years (M = 6.47, SD = 0.39). A new instrument was developed to assess implicit theories about willpower for this specific age group. Results indicated that kindergarteners who think of their willpower as a non-limited resource showed better behavioral self-regulation than children who adopted a more limited theory, even when controlling for age and gender. This relation was especially pronounced in low achieving children. Mediation and moderation analyses showed that this relation was partly mediated through the children’s willingness to invest effort to reach a learning goal. Findings suggest that fostering metacognitive beliefs in children, such as the belief that willpower is a non-limited resource, may increase behavioral self-regulation for successful adjustment to the demands of kindergarten and school.

Mind-over-body beliefs in sport and exercise: A driving force for training volume and performance, but with risks for exercise addiction

“…In terms of the research approach of implicit theories (Dweck, 1999), MoBs could be viewed as incremental beliefs that athletic ability is achieved by willpower, enduring pain and investing effort. This interpretation fits with Job and colleagues findings that an incremental belief about one´s willpower (willpower is not limited) predicts better behavioral self-regulation than the belief that willpower is a limited resource that can deplete and needs time to be filled up (Bernecker & Job Sutnar, 2020;Compagnoni et al, 2020;Francis et al, 2021). One advantage of considering MoBs in the theoretical framework of implicit beliefs is that approaches to changing beliefs are already being developed.…”

Empathy Levels, Self-Perceptions, and Play Interactions of Children Aged 60-72 Months in the Preschool Period

“…In a study by Alavi et al (2019) examining factors related to academic achievement, they found that girls had higher levels of attention skills and better impulse control compared to boys. Compagnoni et al (2020) investigated the relationship between children's behavioral self-regulation skills and motivation levels in a sample of 147 preschool children aged 5 to 7 years. The results indicated that girls showed better behavioral self-regulation skills compared to boys.…”

Perceived Self-Control Effort, Subjective Vitality, and General Affect in an Associative Structure

“…Further research may also take a close look at moderating processes that play an important role at several points within the schema model of self-control (see the white boxes in Figure 1). For instance, people's implicit theories of whether willpower is a limited or an unlimited resource (Job et al, 2010;Compagnoni et al, 2020) can influence how perceived self-control demands are related to affective experiences (Konze et al, 2018). Another relevant moderating influence may be the extent to which individuals feel autonomous during a self-control demand.…”