Developmental origins of regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs in preadolescence: A longitudinal investigation from early childhood till adolescence

Abstract

Regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs (RESE) are essential for socio-emotional functioning. While they are shown to emerge in early adolescence, their developmental origins are largely unknown. The current study takes a longitudinal approach to investigate the developmental factors that relate to the emergence of RESE. It covers central factors from early to middle childhood. Specifically, we examined the impact of maternal interaction quality, emotion knowledge, goal maintenance (at 4–5 years), and global self-worth (8 years) on 12-year-olds’ (M_age = 12;2) perceived capability to regulate negative emotions (RESE-NEG) and to express positive emotions (RESE-POS) (N = 155, 68 female, mostly White). Maternal non-hostility and child cognitive competencies at 4–5 years predicted adolescents’ RESE-NEG (βs =.26–.33), demonstrating first evidence how early social experiences contribute to RESE. Global self-worth predicted RESE-POS (β =.27). The study broadens our knowledge on the psychological mechanisms that support the development of RESE. It highlights adolescents’ RESE as outcome of earlier developing social-cognitive competencies and experiences in caregiver-child interactions in early childhood.