Self-regulation: Conceptual issues and relations to developmental outcomes in childhood and adolescence

Self-regulatory capacities are frequently discussed as predictors of diverse developmental outcomes in childhood and adolescence, including adjustment, maladjustment, and educational outcomes. The purpose of this chapter is to consider some conceptual distinctions among regulatory/control processes and to apply themwhen considering the role of self-regulation in developmental outcomes in adolescence. Effortful, voluntary aspects of regulation are differentiated from less voluntary, more reactive control processes. Research on relations of both types of processes to children’s and adolescents’ maladjustment, social competence, and academic functioning are briefly reviewed, as is research on self-regulation as a process mediating the relation of quality of parenting to developmental outcomes. Finally, the implications of research on effortful control and reactive control for recent work on regulated behavior and goal pursuit in adolescence are discussed.