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A Multimethod Assessment of Effortful Self-Regulation in Personality Research: Temperamental, Neuropsychological, and Psychophysiological Concomitants

Dinovo, Salvatore Augustine, Jr.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259076504

Abstract Details

2009, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Psychology.
The self-regulatory construct known as effortful control (EC) has garnered considerable support from childhood psychopathology research (e.g. Muris, de Jong, & Engelen, 2004), which has relied upon multiple methods of data acquisition, including questionnaires and performance-based measures. Corroborative findings have emerged from adult research indicating that deficits in effortful control may serve as a risk factor for the development of anxiety and depression (e.g. Dinovo & Vasey, 2003, 2005), yet adult research exploring this construct has relied almost exclusively on self-reports. An important step in remedying this deficit would be additional validation of existing self-reports of EC. Fortunately, means for assessing a self-regulatory construct like effortful control are plentiful within the extant scientific literature, particularly from research on executive functions: neurological processes that permit self-regulation. Moreover, converging findings from physiological investigations of executive function and the cardiovascular system suggest that the processes underlying self-regulation can be indirectly assessed via measures of heart-rate variability (HRV), since many of the neural structures implicated in executive function also modulate heart rate (Ruiz-Padial et al., 2003).Using correlation- and regression analyses within an undergraduate student sample, this investigation found that self-reported EC held significant relations with physiological measurements of heart-rate variability. By contrast, neither self-reported EC nor indices of HRV were related to performance-based measures of executive functioning. Thus, while providing some important support for the validity of self-report instruments used in the extant adult literature exploring EC, not all findings were consistent with expectations. Implications for the construct of EC and future directions for research are discussed.
Michael Vasey, PhD (Advisor)
Steven Beck, PhD (Committee Member)
Daniel Strunk, PhD (Committee Member)
Julian Thayer, PhD (Committee Member)
256 p.
Psychology
Self Regulation; Self Control; Personality; Effortful Control; Executive Functioning; Heart Rate Variability; Psychopathology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Dinovo, Jr., S. A. (2009). A Multimethod Assessment of Effortful Self-Regulation in Personality Research: Temperamental, Neuropsychological, and Psychophysiological Concomitants [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259076504

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Dinovo, Jr., Salvatore. A Multimethod Assessment of Effortful Self-Regulation in Personality Research: Temperamental, Neuropsychological, and Psychophysiological Concomitants. 2009. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259076504.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Dinovo, Jr., Salvatore. "A Multimethod Assessment of Effortful Self-Regulation in Personality Research: Temperamental, Neuropsychological, and Psychophysiological Concomitants." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259076504

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.