Small challenges, big challenges : understanding and supporting the development of emotion-related self-regulation in schools

Challenges are important for learning. Research on self- and emotion regulation describes the effective and adaptive beliefs, strategies, and supportive contexts that help students in schools overcome small and big challenges at school and in life. Conjoint behavioural consultation, in which parents and teachers work with a consultant to address challenging behaviour, has been demonstrated as an effective intervention for externalizing problems (e.g., non-compliance, hyperactivity) but has not been widely applied to students with internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression). There is a need to integrate contemporary research with effective models of intervention to best support students with significant difficulties regulating their emotions. The current study explored the development of a collaborative, consultative intervention for young adolescents with emerging emotional and behavioural difficulties in schools and at home. Rich and in-depth descriptions of five case studies, each involving a student with their parent(s) and a teacher, are presented. The researcher was also the consultant for each case. Data included questionnaires, interviews with parents, teachers, and students, home and school observations, and daily rating forms. The descriptions provide insight into the processes involved in the young adolescents’ development of emotion regulation. Eight cross- case themes were identified that represented key individual and contextual characteristics and key intervention components and processes: personalizing supports based on strengths and needs; considering motivation for and about change; reconciling context and relationships; viewing emotion regulation as more than coping; building and bridging trust; providing support and an outside perspective; collaborating to create opportunities for growth; and facilitating awareness, understanding, and insights. This study makes unique contributions to research on self- and emotion regulation and conjoint behavioural consultation.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat

It's OK to feel frustrated : how social comparison and motivational beliefs influence students' self-regulation

During the learning process, frustration can be a significant obstacle for students, particularly in a classroom, when learners perceive that their peers can solve a problem more easily. The processes and beliefs that enable students to control their thoughts and actions to achieve personal goals are referred to as self-regulation. Dweck (1986; 2000) posited that the beliefs individuals have about their abilities, in particular about their intelligence, described as either a fixed or growth mindset, may mediate their use of self-regulatory strategies. An extension of Dweck’s research suggests that individuals also have beliefs about the amount of mental resources they have for exerting self- control (i.e., willpower) that are described as either limited or unlimited (Job, Dweck, & Walton, 2010). The purpose of the current study was to investigate how students’ beliefs about intelligence and willpower influenced their self-regulation during a potentially frustrating task with opportunities for social comparison. Participants in this study were public school students, aged 11 to 13 (N = 64; 40 female, 24 male), who were asked to solve puzzles in pairs. One student was given a solvable puzzle and the other was given an unsolvable puzzle. Students were not made aware of differences in the difficulty of the puzzle task before solving it. Questionnaires, observations, and performance on a cognitive task were used as measures of their beliefs, behaviours, emotions, and self- control. Data were analyzed using correlations, independent samples t-tests, and analysis of variance. Results indicated that the implemented experimental procedures induced frustration: students in the unsolvable condition displayed and self-reported greater frustration than students in the solvable condition. In addition, results indicated that frustration does not necessarily induce self-control depletion: no statistical difference was found in students’ self-control between conditions. However, students’ self- regulation was influenced by their beliefs about intelligence: students who viewed their intelligence as fixed demonstrated significantly greater self-control depletion than students who viewed their intelligence as capable of growing. Finally, results suggested that the concept of willpower may not be fully understood by students at this age: no significant results were found for the influence of students’ beliefs about willpower.Education, Faculty ofGraduat