title: Children's responses to entry failure: attention deployment patterns and self-regulation skills.
abstract: In this study the authors investigated associations among children's observed responses to failure in an analogue entry situation, their attention deployment patterns, and skills and processes associated with self-regulation. Participants were 54 kindergarten and first-grade students who were either aggressive-rejected or low aggressive-popular based on peer nominations. Inhibitory control predicted the tendency to respond to entry failure by stopping and watching the group's activity. Baseline vagal tone and other-directed attention predicted children's tendency to change entry strategies after failure. Parent-rated attention skills moderated the relation between children's attention deployment patterns during the entry task and their responses to entry failure. Children who engaged in more other-directed attention were less likely to turn to solitary play after entry failure but only if they had high or moderate levels of attentional control. Other-directed attention was related to repeating previous entry bids without modification after entry failure but only when children had high levels of attention problems.
authors.affiliation: Seattle Pacific University, Clinical Psychology Department, 3307 Third Ave West, Suite 107, Seattle, WA 98119-1922, USA. bjwilson@spu.edu
authors.forename: Beverly J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Holly S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Petaja
authors.forename: Arianne D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Margaret F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Kari M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Peterson
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012424:Rural Population; D012919:Social Behavior; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology