Early Childhood Research Quarterly 31 (2015) 89–100 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Early Childhood Research Quarterly Preschool teachers’ classroom behavioral socialization practices and low-income children’s self-regulation skills Jessica L. Degol * , Heather J. Bachman University of Pittsburgh, United States a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 10 December 2011 Received in revised form 22 December 2014 Accepted 5 January 2015 Available online 15 January 2015 Keywords: Self-regulation Low-income Socialization Preschool Teacher practices a b s t r a c t The present study examined associations between teachers’ classroom behavioral socialization practices and the development of preschoolers’ self-regulation skills throughout the year, as well as the moderating roles of child gender and initial self-regulation skills. The predominantly low-income sample consisted of 216 children from 68 preschool classrooms within 29 private child care centers. Findings suggest that teachers devoted very little time to whole-group classroom behavioral socialization practices. Hierarchi- cal linear models revealed that classroom behavioral socialization time negatively predicted both spring self-regulation scores (lagged dependent variable models) and change in children’s self-regulation scores from fall to spring (change score models). These patterns remained even after controlling for a variety of child, family, teacher, and classroom characteristics. Cross-level interactions indicated that the negative association between behavioral socialization time and change in self-regulation was stronger for girls than for boys. Preschoolers’ initial self-regulation in the fall did not moderate the association between behavioral socialization time and self-regulation in either model. Implications for practice are discussed. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction Accumulating research has demonstrated that self-regulation, or the ability to regulate emotions and behaviors, is critical to understanding individual differences in children’s school readi- ness skills (Blair, 2002). Difficulties with self-regulation place many children at a disadvantage early in life. Children in preschool and elementary school who have more difficulty regulating their emotions and behaviors are more likely to display lower aca- demic achievement (Blair & Razza, 2007; Dobbs, Doctoroff, Fisher, & Arnold, 2006; McClelland et al., 2007; Miles & Stipek, 2006; Normandeau & Guay, 1998; Ponitz, McClelland, Matthews, & Morrison, 2009) and lower social functioning (Olson, Sameroff, Kerr, Lopez, & Wellman, 2005; Posner & Rothbart, 2000; Valiente et al., 2004). The preschool years are a crucial time period for the development of self-regulation (Kochanska, Murray, & Harlan, 2000; Murphy, Eisenberg, Fabes, Shepard, & Guthrie, 1999), and increasingly, researchers have stressed the importance of teachers promoting or socializing the self-regulatory skills that preschoolers * Corresponding author at: University of Pittsburgh, School of Education, Depart- ment of Psychology in Education, 5931 Posvar Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States. Tel.: +1 412 648 6308; fax: +1 412 624 7231. E-mail address: jld91@pitt.edu (J.L. Degol). will need to successfully transition into school (Denham, Bassett, & Wyatt, 2007; McClelland & Morrison, 2003). These socialization practices are particularly relevant in the preschool years, dur- ing which major advances in the development of areas of the brain responsible for self-regulation occur (Blair, 2002). Unfortu- nately, research on teachers’ naturalistic behavioral socialization attempts to improve children’s self-regulation skills, delivered at the classroom-level within formal preschool settings, is currently lacking from the developmental literature. There is little known about how often they employ these large-group socialization practices, and how these practices are related to children’s devel- opment in self-regulation. In addition, there is little information regarding the importance of child characteristics in moderating the association between classroom behavioral socialization time and self-regulation. The current study focuses on teachers’ classroom behavioral socialization practices, which involve discussions, activities, or lessons about behavioral knowledge and regulation that are dis- seminated on a class-wide or universal scale, rather than dyadic interactions between teachers and individual students. Behavioral socialization, therefore, includes attempts to prevent and redi- rect misbehavior, such as going over classroom rules, reading stories about appropriate social behavior, or reminding children of the consequences for misbehaving. In recent years, there has been increased attention on how the types and frequencies of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.01.002 0885-2006/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.