Self-Regulation and Economic Stress in Children of Hispanic Immigrants and Their Peers: Better Regulation at a Cost?

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Although there is a well-established relationship between economic stress and children’s self-regulation, few studies have examined this relationship in children of Hispanic immigrants (COHIs), a rapidly growing population. In a sample of preschool children (N = 165), we examined whether economic stress predicted teacher evaluations of children’s self-regulation, whether economic stress predicted children’s physiological reactivity (via cortisol levels), and whether economic stress had a similar effect on self-regulation and children’s cortisol for COHI versus nonimmigrant children. Greater economic stress was associated with poorer child self-regulation and heightened physiological reactivity across a challenging classroom task for the sample as a whole. However, when we examined children by group, greater economic stress was associated with poorer teacher-reported self-regulation for nonimmigrant children only. In contrast, greater economic stress was related to greater cortisol reactivity across a challenge task for COHIs but not for nonimmigrants. Practice or Policy: Results demonstrate the importance of considering physiological indices of self-regulation (heightened stress physiology), in addition to traditional external indices (teacher report), when assessing self-regulation or risk more generally among preschool samples that are diverse in terms of ethnicity, economic risk, and parents’ nativity.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the participating children, parents, and teachers who made this research possible.

Funding

This work was supported by Administration for Children and Families Grant No. 90YE0091-01 awarded to Lisa S. Badanes, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship No. DGE-1104602 awarded to Lisa S. McFadyen-Ketchum, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant No. RO3 HD054718-01, and a grant from the Foundation for Child Development awarded to Sarah Enos Watamura.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Administration for Children and Families Grant No. 90YE0091-01 awarded to Lisa S. Badanes, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship No. DGE-1104602 awarded to Lisa S. McFadyen-Ketchum, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant No. RO3 HD054718-01, and a grant from the Foundation for Child Development awarded to Sarah Enos Watamura.