Social Exclusion Predicts Impaired Self-Regulation: A 2-Year Longitudinal Panel Study Including the Transition from Preschool to School

Abstract

The need‐to‐belong theory stipulates that social exclusion (i.e., being rejected by peers) impairs the ability to self‐regulate, and experimental studies with adults support this contention, at least on a short‐term basis. Few studies have investigated whether social exclusion affects the development of self‐regulation of children in a more enduring manner. By using data from a community sample of 762 children, we investigated reciprocal relations between social exclusion and self‐regulation from age 4 to age 6. Social exclusion was reported by teachers, whereas self‐regulation was reported by parents. Autoregressive latent cross‐lagged analyses showed that social exclusion predicted impaired development of dispositional self‐regulation and, reciprocally, that poor self‐regulation predicted enhanced social exclusion. In other words, social exclusion undermines children's development of self‐regulation, whereas poor self‐regulation increases the likelihood of exclusion. Results illuminate the applied relevance of the need‐to‐belong theory.

Linking Executive Function and Peer Problems from Early Childhood Through Middle Adolescence

“…Similarly, a recent review highlighted the bidirectional relations between adolescents’ self-regulation and peer relationships such that better self-regulation contributed to better peer relations and vice-versa (Farley & Kim-Spoon, 2014). Also in parallel support of the proposed reciprocal relation between EF and PP, Stenseng and colleagues (2014) found that social exclusion of peers was linked with impaired self-regulation in the transition from preschool to elementary school and vice versa such that social exclusion was associated with impaired development of self-regulation 2 years later and poor self-regulation was associated with greater social exclusion 2 years later. However, this study is limited as it considered only two time points at age 4 and age 6 and their self-regulation measure assessed pathological deficiencies in regulation and temperamental regulation capacity, but did not consider cognitive regulation related specifically to EF.…”

When does social exclusion increase or decrease food self‐regulation? The moderating role of time orientation

“…Moreover, the underlying mechanism that illuminates how social exclusion influences consumers' food self‐regulation is still unknown. Importantly, a considerable body of research has already demonstrated that social exclusion undermines self‐regulation (e.g., Baumeister et al, ; Oaten, Williams, Jones, & Zadro, ; Stenseng et al, ). For example, Baumeister et al () have found that excluded participants have more difficulty in making themselves consume a healthy but bad‐tasting beverage.…”

“…Moreover, the underlying mechanism that illuminates how social exclusion influences consumers' food self-regulation is still unknown. Importantly, a considerable body of research has already demonstrated that social exclusion undermines self-regulation (e.g., Baumeister et al, 2005;Oaten, Williams, Jones, & Zadro, 2008;Stenseng et al, 2015).…”

“…Prior research has demonstrated that social exclusion could produce opposite self-regulatory responses. In particular, drawing from resource-conservation theory (Muraven et al, 2006), social exclusion would impair self-regulation (e.g., Baumeister et al, 2005;Oaten et al, 2008;Stenseng et al, 2015). In contrast, according to social reconnection hypothesis (Maner et al, 2007), social exclusion could aid self-regulation (e.g., Baumeister et al, 2007;DeWall et al, 2008).…”

“…According to resource‐conservation theory (Muraven, Shmueli, & Burkley, ), social exclusion could induce people to engage in behavior indicative of impaired self‐regulation (e.g., Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco, & Twenge, ; Stenseng, Belsky, Skalicka, & Wichstrøm, ). It is acknowledged that being deprived of social acceptance may trigger cognitive deficit (Baumeister, Twenge, & Nuss, ; Twenge, Catanese, & Baumeister, ), which might lead to a decline in self‐regulation.…”