Individual differences in the effectiveness of self‐distancing for young children's emotion regulation
Open accessAbstract
Self‐distancing has been shown to improve children's self‐regulation in a variety of tasks. However, it is unknown whether this strategy is more effective for some children than others. This study investigated self‐distancing in relation to individual differences in executive function ( EF ) and effortful control ( EC ). Typically developing 4‐ ( n = 72) and 6‐year‐olds ( n = 67) were randomly assigned to think about the self from one of four perspectives: self‐immersed, control, third‐person, or competent media character. Children participated in a frustrating task for up to 10 min and overt expressions of frustration were coded. Conceptually replicating prior research with adults, younger children, and children with lower EF and lower EC (independent of age) benefitted the most from self‐distancing. This suggests self‐distancing is especially effective during a frustrating task for children with less developed self‐control, adding to a growing body of research showing self‐distancing is especially effective for vulnerable individuals. Statement of contribution: What is already known on this subject? Using third‐person speech and pretending to be a media character improve children's self‐regulation. Age and theory of mind skills are related to the effectiveness of self‐distancing. What does this study add? Self‐distancing can help children regulate their emotions during an emotionally charged task. Individual differences in executive function and effortful control are related to the efficacy of self‐distancing.
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Across three studies, 4-6 year olds but not 3 year olds showed improved behavioral performance and less frustration during a difficult cognitive task once a decentered self-perspective was adopted.
“Across three studies, 4–6 year olds but not 3 year olds showed improved behavioral performance39,40 and less frustration41 during a difficult cognitive task once a decentered self-perspective was adopted (42.51–71.70 months).”
From Decentering as a core component in the psychological treatment and prevention of youth anxiety and depression: a narrative review and insight report (2021) · cites this paper as [41]
The Global frustration rating section reports less frustration for 4-year-olds in the exemplar condition than in the self-immersed condition, but no significant condition differences for 6-year-olds. The Overview and hypotheses section describes a frustrating locked-box task, not the difficult cognitive task described in the claim; this study did not test 3-year-olds. (LLM, conf=0.89)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe increase in decentering ability over time is likely due to age-related improvements in executive functioning.
“A small number of studies additionally report that this ability increases over time38,43,44, likely due to age-related improvements in executive functioning41.”
From Decentering as a core component in the psychological treatment and prevention of youth anxiety and depression: a narrative review and insight report (2021) · cites this paper as [41]
The paper’s introductory discussion says executive function increases with age and proposes that it may help children adopt a distanced perspective. It does not show that decentering ability increases over time because of executive-function development; its Discussion instead reports that younger children benefited more from self-distancing than older children. Page numbers are unavailable for these passages in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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- Authors
- Grenell, A., Prager, E. O., Schaefer, C., Kross, E., Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Grenell, Amanda
- Venue
- British Journal of Developmental Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-07-15
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 84-100
- ISSN
- 0261-510X (ISSN-L)
- 2044-835X
- OpenAlex
- W2884462259
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5
- FWCI
- 4.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- British Journal of Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- John Templeton Foundation (21564)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- self-distancing, emotion regulation, executive function, effortful control, individual differences, young children, frustration, self-immersion, third-person perspective, media characters, self-control, theory of mind
- MeSH terms
- Self-Control, Age Factors, Child, Child Behavior, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Individuality, Male, Executive Function, Theory of Mind
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