Direct and indirect pathways from children’s early self-regulation to academic achievement in fifth grade in Norway

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ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirect

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Direct and indirect pathways from children’s early self-regulation to academic achievement in ﬁfth grade in Norway

Ragnhild Lenes

^a,∗

, Megan M. McClelland

^b

, Dieuwer ten Braak

^a

, Thormod Idsøe

^a,c

, Ingunn Størksen

^a

aNorwegianCentreforLearningEnvironmentandBehaviouralResearchinEducation,UniversityofStavanger,Postboks8600Forus,4036Stavanger, Norway

bHumanDevelopmentandFamilySciences,OregonStateUniversity,125HallieFordCenterforHealthyChildrenandFamilies,OregonStateUniversity, Corvallis,OR97330,UnitedStates

cTheNorwegianCenterforChildBehavioralDevelopment,Postboks7053Majorstuen,0306Oslo,Norway

a r t i c l e i n f o

Articlehistory:

Received19April2019

Receivedinrevisedform25June2020 Accepted9July2020

Keywords:

Self-regulation Classroombehavior Schoolreadiness Longitudinaleffects Academicachievement

a b s t r a c t

Alargebodyofresearchhasdocumentedtheroleofself-regulationinacademicskilldevelopmentfor youngchildren.However,fewstudieshaveinvestigatedlongitudinalandindirecteffectsfromkinder- gartenthroughlaterelementaryschool.InthislongitudinalNorwegianstudy,weinvestigatedpathways fromchildren’sself-regulationinkindergarten(Mage=5.8;N=243,49%girls),tolanguageandmath skillsinﬁrstgrade(N=240)andreadingcomprehensionandmathachievementinﬁfthgrade(N=160).

Self-regulationwasmeasuredwithdirectandteacher-reportedassessments.Pathmodelsshowedthat bothdirectlyassessedandteacher-reportedself-regulationinkindergartenpredictedmathskillsbut notvocabularyandphonologicalawarenessskillsinfirstgrade.Teacher-reportedself-regulationindi- rectlypredictedfifthgradereadingcomprehensionthroughfirstgradeteacher-reportedself-regulation, anddirectlyassessedself-regulationpredictedfifthgrademathachievementthroughmathskillsand directlyassessedself-regulationinfirstgrade.Whencontrollingforkindergartenself-regulation,both self-regulationmeasuresinfirstgradepredictedfifthgradereadinganddirectlyassessedself-regulation predictedmathachievement.Findingselucidatethefoundationalroleofearlyself-regulationforlater academicachievementandthedifferentialeffectsofdirectlyassessedversusteacher-reportedself- regulationinaNorwegiansample.

1. Introduction

Whenchildrenenterformalschooling,theyoftenmovefrom arelatively unstructuredchildcaresetting toa morestructured learningenvironment,withgreaterexpectationsforbehaviorssuch aspayingattention,cooperating,andfollowinginstructions.These behaviorsdependonchildren’sabilitytoself-regulate(McClelland

&Cameron, 2012). Research has indicated that children’s self- regulationprovidesafoundationfortheiracademicskillsbecause childrenneedtodemonstrateself-controltobeneﬁtfromlearn- ingopportunities (Blair &Raver, 2015; McClelland &Cameron, 2019; Raver, Jones, Li-Grining,Bub, &Pressler,2011).Although

∗Correspondingauthor.

E-mailaddresses:[email protected] (R.Lenes),[email protected]

(M.M.McClelland),[email protected](D.tenBraak),[email protected] (T.Idsøe),[email protected](I.Størksen).

theliteratureonself-regulationanditsrelationshipwithacademic outcomesisextensive,relativelyfewstudieshaveexaminedthe roleofearlyself-regulationonacademicachievementinthelater elementary schoolyears (G. J. Duncanet al.,2007; McClelland, Acock,&Morrison,2006).Moreover,self-regulationmaynotonly directlypredictlateroutcomes,butalsocontributetolateraca- demicachievementthroughitsroleinearlyacademicskills(von Suchodoletz & Gunzenhauser, 2013). Understanding the indi- rectdevelopmentalpathwaysfromself-regulationtolaterskills is importantbecauseacademicskills areessential prerequisites for learning (G. J. Duncan et al., 2007; Gurlitt &Renkl, 2010).

Finally, most studies have assessed self-regulation with either directassessments(e.g.,McClellandetal.,2014)orwithteacher reports(e.g.,McClellandetal.,2006).Theadditivecontributionof directassessmentsoverteacherreports,andviceversa,remains lessknown.

The present study is conducted in the Norwegian context that includes generous welfare systems, low rates of poverty, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.07.005

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anduniversalaccesstoregulatedandsubsidizedEarlyChildhood EducationandCare(ECEC),whichisbasedonaplay-basedpedagogicalapproach.Inthissetting,weinvestigatethelongitudinal anduniqueeffectsfromchildren’sdirectlyassessedandteacher- reportedself-regulationinthespringofkindergarten¹(5–6years) to vocabulary, phonological awareness and, math skills in the springoffirstgrade(6–7years).Wealsoexaminedirect effects fromchildren’sself-regulationinkindergartenandfirstgrade(con- trollingforkindergartenself-regulation)toreadingcomprehension and math achievementin fifth grade (9–10 years). Finally, we investigate indirecteffects from self-regulation in kindergarten toreadingcomprehensionandmathachievementinfifthgrade, throughacademicskillsandself-regulationinfirstgrade.

1.1. Conceptualandempiricalunderstandingsofself-regulation Self-regulatoryskillshelpchildrencontroltheirthoughtsand behavior,solveproblems,plan, andcomplete tasks(McClelland

& Cameron, 2019), which in turn helps them to adapt to the demands and expectations in the classroom. Self-regulation is a multidimensional construct that broadly refers to the regu- lationof emotions,cognition,and behavior(McClelland,Ponitz, Messersmith, & Tominey, 2010), and it is understood to be composedofinterrelatedtop-downandbottom-upcomponents (Blair&Raver,2012).Thebottom-upcomponentsareautomatic, stimulus-driven,rapid,anddonotrequirementalcapacity,while thetop-downcomponentsarerelatedtoexecutivefunctioning(EF) (Blair&Raver,2012;Nigg,2017).EF,whichisatermoftenusedin cognitivedisciplines(McClelland&Cameron,2012),isahigh-level setof processesthat include attentionalor cognitiveﬂexibility, workingmemory,andinhibitorycontrol(Blair,2002).

EFisrelatedto,butnotsynonymouswith,self-regulation.Nigg (2017)suggeststhatEFisasetofcognitivecapacitiesthat,when implemented,enablesself-regulationandself-regulatedbehavior.

ThisisinlinewithresearchontheconnectionbetweenEF and self-regulation,whicharguesthatthecomponentsofEFsubserve successful self-regulation and that temporary reductions in EF underliemanyofthesituationalriskfactorsidentiﬁedinthesocial psychologicalresearchonself-regulation(Hofmann,Schmeichel,&

Baddeley,2012).

1.1.1. Measuringself-regulation

Self-regulationcanbemeasuredwithdirectassessments,such astheHead-Toes-Knees-Shouldertask(HTKS;McClellandetal., 2014)usedinthepresentstudyorratingsbyteachersorcaregivers.

However,although direct assessments and questionnaire-based measuresofself-regulationaresigniﬁcantlyassociated(Gestsdottir etal.,2014; Matthews,CameronPonitz, &Morrison,2009; von Suchodoletzetal.,2013;Wanlessetal.,2013),theyarenotsyn- onymous.

Directassessmentsofself-regulationcanprovideinformation aboutchildren’sskillsinhighlystructuredone-to-onesituations andaremorelikelytoassesscognitiveprocesses(e.g.,EFcompo- nents)involvedinself-regulation(Allan,Hume,Allan,Farrington,

&Lonigan,2014).Forexample,theHTKStaskhasbeenfoundto berelatedtoallthreeEF components(McClelland etal.,2014).

However,directassessmentsmaynotadequatelyreﬂectchildren’s abilitytoregulatetheirbehaviorinasocialclassroomcontextover time(Toplak,West,&Stanovich,2013).Itissuggestedthatachild mightscorewellonanindividuallyadministeredself-regulation

1InNorway,childrenattendEarlyChildhoodEducationandCare(ECEC)centers untiltheyaresixyearsold.AlthoughNorwegianchildrendonotattendkindergarten asitisknownintheUnitedStates,forsimplicityweusethenamekindergartenas thisstudyincludesonlytheeldestchildrenfromtheECECs.

measure,suchastheHTKStask,butheorshemightnotbeableto payattentionintheclassroomorworksituation,whichincludes many distractions and extraneous situations (McClellandet al., 2010).Furthermore,directassessmentsaretypicallyusedatone pointintime,whichonlygivesassessorsasnapshotofachild’sskills andmayalsocapturefactorsunrelatedtoachild’sself-regulation (e.g.,timeoftesting,thetestsituation,childfatigue)(Allanetal., 2014).

Incontrast,teacherratingscapturechildren’sabilitytoapply theirself-regulationineverydaytasks,acrossclassroomcontexts andovertime(Campbelletal.,2016;Wanlessetal.,2013),butthey maybehamperedbyratersubjectivityandhistorybetweenthe childandtherater(Allanetal.,2014).Althoughteacher-reported measurementsmaytargetthecognitiveprocessesincludedinEF, theymay,toalargerdegree,reﬂectthebehavioralandsocialman- ifestationsoftheseskillsintheenvironment(Toplaketal.,2013).

Thus,teacher-reportsoftenfocusonself-regulationmorebroadly andmaynotfocusonspeciﬁcprocessessuchasinhibitorycon- trol, ﬂexible attention,and working memory(Schmitt, Pratt, &

McClelland,2014).

Bothmethods of assessing self-regulationhave beensigniﬁ- cantlyrelated toacademicachievement(e.g.,Allanetal.,2014;

Nathanson, Rimm-Kaufman, & Brock, 2009; Robson, Allen, &

Howard,2020;Wanless etal.,2011).Ina recentmeta-analysis, resultsshowednostatisticallysigniﬁcantdifferencesintheassoci- ationsbetweenchildren’searlyself-regulationandlateracademic skillswhenself-regulationwasmeasuredusingdirectassessment orteacher-report(Robsonetal.,2020).However,acrossbothmeth- odsofassessingself-regulation,theyfoundthatself-regulationwas morestronglyassociated withmathskillsthanwithearlyliter- acyskills.Someevidencesuggestsdirectlyassessedself-regulation (usingtheHTKStask)tobeanequalorbetterpredictorofmathe- maticsandliteracyskillscomparedwithteacherratings(Matthews etal.,2009).Moreover,bothmethodsofassessingself-regulation inpreschoolhavebeenreportedtopredictreadingcomprehen- siontwoyearslater(Birgisdóttir,Gestsdóttir,&Thorsdóttir,2015).

Another study found that teacher-reportedself-regulation was morestronglyassociatedwithearlylanguage,literacy,andread- ingskills,comparedtodirectlyassessedself-regulation(usingthe HTKStask),meanwhile,directlyassessedself-regulationwasthe strongest predictor of math skills (Schmitt et al., 2014).These resultsprovidesomeindicationsthatdirectassessmentsaremore consistentlyrelatedtochildren’smathskills,andthatbothtypesof measurementsarerelatedtolanguageskillsandreadingcompre- hension.

Thetwo self-regulationassessmentsmayrepresent different aspectsofchildren’scognitiveandbehavioralfunctioningindiffer- entenvironments(Allanetal.,2014;Hofmannetal.,2012;Toplak etal.,2013).Thus,itmaybeusefultodifferentiatebetweenthese measurementsastheymaypredictuniquevarianceinacademic outcomes.

1.2. Self-regulation,earlylanguageskills,andreading achievement

Self-regulationisrelatedtoknowledgeacquisitionmorebroadly butalsotospeciﬁcaspectsofearlylanguageskills.Forexample, self-regulationfacilitatestheacquisitionofphonologicalaware- ness and vocabulary knowledge in the early years by helping childrenfocus,payattention,andrememberthemeaningofsounds andwords(Blair,Protzko,&Ursache,2011;McClelland&Cameron, 2019).Theseearlylanguageskills,inturn,supportthedevelopment ofreadingcomprehension(Storch&Whitehurst,2002).

Studiesusingdirectassessmentorteacher-reporthavedemon- stratedthatearlyself-regulationpredictsvocabulary(Bohlmann

& Downer, 2016; Gestsdottir et al., 2014; Weiland, Barata, &

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Yoshikawa, 2014), early literacy skills (Blair & Razza, 2007;

Matthews et al., 2009; Schmitt et al., 2014; Welsh, Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010), and early reading achievement (Birgisdóttiretal.,2015;Hernándezetal.,2018;Welshetal.,2010).

However,othershavenotfoundeffectsfromdirectlyassessedself- regulationtovocabulary(CameronPonitz,McClelland,Matthews,

& Morrison, 2009; Fuhs & Day, 2011), or early literacy skills (CameronPonitz et al.,2009; Hubert,Guimard, Florin, &Tracy, 2015; Schmitt, Geldhof, Purpura, Duncan,& McClelland, 2017), andnorfromteacher-reportedself-regulationtovocabulary(von Suchodoletzetal.,2013),orsomeearlyliteracyskills(Blair&Razza, 2007).Thus,priorﬁndingsareinconsistent,whichmightbecaused bystudy-speciﬁcfactorssuchaschoiceofmeasurements,differ- encesinaspectsofearlyliteracy,numberand choiceofcontrol variables, andcharacteristics of thesample (e.g.,age,socioeco- nomicbackground,andculture).

Aschildrengainexperiencewithreadingintheearlytomid- elementarygrades,thecognitivedemands,suchasself-regulation, forreadingwordsandsentenceslessenasitissupportedbyalready acquiredandautomatedaspectsofreading(e.g.,vocabularyknowl- edgeandphonologicalawareness)(Blair etal.,2011).However, tocomprehenda seriesofsentences,holdthealready-readtext in short-termmemorywhile drawinginferences for what may comenext,maystill,inadditiontotheacquiredandautomated aspectsofreadingrequireself-regulation(Blair&Razza,2007;Blair etal.,2011;Sesma,Mahone,Levine,Eason,&Cutting,2009).Afew studieshavefoundthatteacher-reportedself-regulationinkinder- gartenpredictedreadingachievementlaterinelementaryschool (G.J.Duncanetal.,2007;McClellandetal.,2006).

Considering that self-regulation may provide a foundation for learning vocabulary and phonological awareness skills, self-regulationmayhaveanindirecteffectonlaterreadingcom- prehensionthroughtheseskills(Blair &Razza,2007;Bohlmann

&Downer,2016;G.J.Duncanetal.,2007;Gurlitt&Renkl,2010;

McClellandet al., 2014; Welsh et al., 2010). Somestudies (ten Braak, Kleemans, Størksen, Verhoeven, & Segers, 2018; van de Sande,Segers,&Verhoeven,2013)havefoundthatphonological awarenessmediatedtherelationbetweendirectlyassessedself- regulationandlaterreadingskillswhereasothershavenot(e.g., Hubertetal.,2015).

Takentogether,researchpointstoapredictiveroleofearlyself- regulationforfuturevocabulary,phonologicalawarenessskills,and readingachievement,butresultsfrompreviousstudiesaremixed andmayhavedependedonthetypeoftaskthathasbeenused (directvs.teacher-reported).Moreover,fewstudieshave inves- tigated the unique direct and indirect pathways from directly assessed and teacher-reported early self-regulation, to reading achievementmeasuredlaterinelementaryschool.

1.3. Self-regulation,earlymathskills,andmathachievement Demonstratingproficiencyinmathachievementrequirescon- sistent and ongoing demands on self-regulation. For example, partialresultsmustbestoredinworkingmemoryandretrieved or replaced when necessary (Bull & Lee, 2014; Van der Ven, Kroesbergen,Boom, &Leseman, 2012).Further, inhibitorycon- trolmay suppress inappropriate strategies, such as the use of addition when subtraction is required, and cognitiveflexibility mayhelptoshiftbetweenoperations,solutionstrategies,quan- tityranges,andnotations(Bull&Lee,2014).Neuro-scientificwork hasdemonstratedthatsimilarbrainregions(e.g.,prefrontalcortex) are important for solving math problems and completing self- regulationtasks(Blair&Razza,2007).

Previous research found that various aspects of directly assessedself-regulationpositivelypredictschildren’smathskills inpreschool(McClellandetal.,2014),kindergarten(Blair&Razza,

2007;Brock,Rimm-Kaufman,Nathanson,&Grimm,2009;Cameron Ponitzet al.,2009; McClellandet al.,2014; Welshet al.,2010), and ﬁrstgrade(Hernándezet al.,2018;tenBraak et al.,2018).

Teacher-reportedself-regulation hasalsobeenfoundtosigniﬁ- cantlypredictmath skillsin kindergarten(Blair &Razza,2007;

Matthewsetal.,2009)andﬁrstgrade(Gestsdottiretal.,2014).A meta-analysis(Allanetal.,2014)showedthatacrossallmethodsof measuringself-regulation,self-regulationwasstronglyassociated withmathematicsamongchildreninpreschoolandkindergarten age.Moreover,studiesusingteacher-reportedself-regulation,have demonstrated that self-regulation in kindergarten is a signiﬁ- cantpredictor ofmath achievementlater in elementary school (G.J.Duncanetal.,2007;McClellandet al.,2006).Fewstudies, however,haveinvestigatedwhetherearlyself-regulationpredicts mathachievementmore thanfouryears afterschoolentryand whether directly assessed and teacher-reported self-regulation showsuniqueassociationsoverandabovetheother.

Self-regulationmayalsocontributetothedevelopmentoflater mathachievement,partlythroughitsinitialeffectonearlymath skills. Studies investigating indirect effects show contradictory findings.Onestudy(tenBraaketal.,2018)foundadirecteffect fromdirectlyassessedself-regulationinkindergartenonmathe- maticsin firstgrade,but nosignificantindirecteffectviamath skillsinkindergarten.Incontrast,anotherstudyonlyfoundanindi- recteffectfromdirectlyassessedself-regulationinpreschoolon firstgrademathskillsthroughpreschoolmathskills(Hubertetal., 2015).Soalthoughevidenceforadirect pathwaybetweenself- regulationandmathematicshasbeenfoundinpreviousresearch, resultsregardingindirectpathwaysareinconclusive.

1.4. TheNorwegiancontext

Different cultural and educational settings may affect children’sdevelopmentandlearning(Bronfenbrenner&Morris,2006).

NorwayandotherNordiccountrieshaveahighpriorityonsocial welfareandeducationpoliciesregardingchildhoodandearlyedu- cation.InNorway,childrenattendEarlyChildhoodEducationand Care(ECEC)centersfromone-to-twoyearsofageandstayuntilthe yeartheyturnsixyearsoldandenterfirstgrade.Allchildrenhave therighttoattendECECfromageoneyear,andin2011,97%ofthe five-year-oldswereinECECcentersforsixtoeighthoursperday, fivedaysaweek(StatisticsNorway,2012).

NorwegianECECisregulatedbytheFrameworkPlanfortheCon- tentandTasksofKindergartens(NorwegianMinistryofEducation

& Research, 2011). The Framework Plan reﬂects a play-based approach,whichemphasizesholisticlearningandchildren’sdesire andcuriosityfor learning(OECD,2006).Childrenspend consid- erabletime in outdoorplay, 70% during thesummer, and 31%

duringthewinter(Moser&Martinsen,2010).Thereislittleempha- sisonformalpreparationforacademiclearningorself-regulation.

In fact,the NorwegianFrameworkplan doesnot mentionself- regulationas aconcept. Thesecharacteristicsin theNorwegian ECECcreateafairlyabrupttransitionforchildrenwhomovefrom aplay-basedandrelativelyunstructuredenvironmenttoahighly structuredlearningenvironmentinfirstgrade(OECD,2006).For example,whenchildrenenterfirstgrade,theyarefacedwithfor- malinstructionsandareexpectedtoworkindependently,stayon tasks,followinstructions,focusonacademictasks,andhavegoal- directedbehavior.Whenthestructureandtheexpectationsvary asmuchastheydobetweenkindergartenandfirstgrade,thetran- sitiontoschoolmaybeparticularlychallenging(McClellandetal., 2010;OECD,2006)andrequirestrongerself-regulationcompared tokindergarten.

ThereislittleresearchinNorwayonchildren’sself-regulation and later academic achievement. A recent study (ten Braak, Størksen,Idsoe, &McClelland, 2019), assessingthe directionof

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relationsbetweendirectlyassessedself-regulationandacademic skills,showedthatself-regulationandmathematicswerebidirec- tionallyrelated across thetransition from kindergarten tofirst grade. Another study (Backer-Grøndahl, Nærde, &Idsoe, 2018) foundthatdirectlyassessedself-regulationatfouryearspredicted academiccompetence(sum score ofmath and reading)in first grade(6.4years)andsecondgrade(7.4years)(controllingforfirst gradeacademiccompetenceandrelevantbackgroundvariables).

Resultsalsoindicatedindirecteffectsasearlyself-regulationpre- dictedacademiccompetenceinsecondgradethroughﬁrstgrade academiccompetence.However,thesestudiesdidnotinvestigate therole of earlyself-regulationonacademic achievementlater inelementaryschool,anddidnotincludeteacher-reportedself- regulation.

1.5. Thepresentstudy

Thepresentstudyfocusedonthefollowingresearchquestions:

1)Dodirectly assessed and teacher-reportedmeasures of self- regulationattheendofkindergarten(age5–6years)uniquely predictvocabulary,phonologicalawareness,andearlymathat theend of firstgrade(6–7 years),anddo thesemeasuresof self-regulationinkindergartenandfirstgradeuniquelypredict readingcomprehensionand mathachievementinfifthgrade (9–10years)?

2)Dodirectly assessed and teacher-reportedmeasures of self- regulation at the end of kindergarten have unique indirect effects onreading comprehension and math achievementin ﬁfthgradethroughﬁrstgradeacademicskillsandmeasuresof self-regulation?

First,although prior researchismixed onrelations between directlyassessedandteacher-ratedmeasuresofself-regulationand earlylanguageskills, weexpected thatboth types ofmeasures woulduniquelypredictchildren’slanguageskillsandreadingcom- prehensioninfirstandfifthgrade,respectively(e.g.,Birgisdóttir etal.,2015;Blair &Razza,2007;Gestsdottiretal.,2014).Based onpriorstudiesshowingthatdirectlyassessedself-regulationis oftena stronger predictorof math skills,compared toteacher- reportsweexpectedthatdirectlyassessedself-regulationwould accountformoreuniquevarianceinfirstandfifthgrademathe- matics(Matthewsetal.,2009;Schmittetal.,2014).Second,we expectedthatchildren’sself-regulationinkindergartenwouldindi- rectlypredictreading comprehensionandmathachievementin fifthgradethroughfirstgradeachievement.Wealsoexpectedboth self-regulationmeasuresinkindergartentoindirectlypredictread- ingcomprehensioninfifthgradethroughfirstgradeskillsbutonly thedirectassessmentofself-regulationtoindirectlypredictmath achievementinfifthgrade.

2. Method 2.1. Participants

DatainthisstudyderivefromtheSkoleklar[Schoolreadiness]

researchproject.TheprojectwasapprovedbytheNorwegianCen- treforResearchData (NSD).Allchildren(N=287)whowerein theirlast yearof kindergarten ina municipality inthe Norwe- gianwestcoastwereinvitedtoparticipate.Atotalof243children (84.7%)had parentalconsenttoparticipate.Amongthese,there were119girls(49%)and124boys(51%),attending19kindergarten centers.Formoredetailsofthissample,seepreviousdescription (Størksen,Ellingsen,Wanless,&McClelland,2015).Themeanage ofthechildrenattheﬁrstdatacollectionpoint(springofthelast

year ofkindergarten;2012) was5.8 years, ranging from5.3 to 6.3 years(SD=0.29).Mothers hada medianeducationlevelof 3attheﬁrstdatacollectionpoint, whichwasone-to-twoyears ofcollege/university.Mother’seducationwasreportedasfollows:

1=juniorhighschool(2.9%),2=seniorhighschool(40.0%),3= one-to-twoyears ofcollege/university(8.8%), 4=threeyearsof college/university education(22.9%), 5=more thanthree years ofcollege/universityeducation(25.4%).Nearlyhalf(48.3%)ofthe mothersreportedhavingthreeyearsofcollege/universityeduca- tionor more. Abouthalfof thewomenaged 25–39in Norway havesomehighereducation,whichsuggeststhatoursamplewas relativelyrepresentativeoftheNorwegianpopulation(Statistics Norway,2015).Inthissample,parentswerebornin21different countriesinadditiontoNorway. Thirteenchildren (5.3%)had a backgroundwherebothparentswereborninanothercountrythan Norway.Thesewerecodedasimmigrants,andtheyincludedﬁve children(2.0%),whosebothparentswerebornintheEU/EEA,USA, Canada,AustraliaorNewZealand,andeightchildren(3.3%)whose bothparentswerebornineitherAsia,Africa,Latin-America,Ocea- nia(exceptAustraliaandNewZealand),orfromanothercountryin EuropeoutsidetheEU/EEA.Allchildrenhadattendedkindergarten foratleastoneyearandspokeNorwegian.Motherswithimmigrant statushadameaneducationlevelof2.46comparedtoameanlevel of3.32fortheothermothers.

Thepresentstudyhadthreetimepointsofdatacollection.The firstdatacollectionwasduringthespringofkindergarten,thesec- ondwasduringthespringoffirstgrade,andthethirdwasduring thefalloffifthgrade.Afterthefirstdatacollectionpoint,threechil- drenmoved,leavingasampleof240childrenattheseconddata collectionpoint.Atthethirddatacollectionpoint, wecollected newparentalconsents,whichresultedinsomeattritionfromthe studyandleftasamplesizeof160(seeattritionanalysesbelow), attendingeightdifferentschools.

2.2. Missingdata

In this study, there wasa veryclose collaborationwith the municipality, the kindergarten centers, and the schools in the firsttwo datacollectionpoints.Theclosecollaborationensured that therateof missingdata waslow, from0.0 to4.1 %for all variables fromkindergartentofirst grade.During fall2016,we extendedthedatasetwithNationalassessmentscoresinreading comprehensionandmathachievementfromfifthgrade.Reading comprehensionin fifthgradehad 34.6%missing dataandmath achievement34.2%.Thenewparentconsentbeforethefifthgrade datacollectionexplainsmostofthis attrition.Weseparatedthe missingandcompletecases,andweexaminedgroupmeansdif- ferencesinallvariablesincludedinthemodels.Theexamination indicatedsomesystematicattrition.Childrenwithmissingvalues infifthgradehadsignificantlylowermeanscoresinmathskills andvocabularyinkindergartenandphonologicalawarenessskills, vocabulary,andteacher-reportedself-regulationinfirstgrade.Fur- thermore,childrenwerelesslikelytoremaininthestudyiftheyhad parentsreportingimmigrantstatus,partlybecausesomeofthese childrenlivedinaneighboringmunicipality.Inthekindergarten datacollection,therewere13childrenwithimmigrantstatus,and infifthgrade,onlythreeofthemwereleft.

Attrition can lead to biased parameter estimates. Thus, to accountformissingdataandtoproduceestimateswithlessbias andgreaterpower,variablesthatwererelatedtoattrition were includedinthemodelaspredictors,controlvariables,orasaux- iliaryvariables.Based onthis,missingdatawereassumedtobe missingatrandom(MAR).Additionally,weusedfullinformation maximumlikelihoodestimators(FIML)(Enders,2010).

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2.3. Procedure

In thetwo firstdata collections points (spring kindergarten andspringfirstgrade),thetestbatterywasadministeredindivid- uallywiththeuseofcomputertablets.Thetesting wascarried outbytesters(trainedin atwo-day course),and alltestswere conductedin Norwegian. Theparents reportededucation level, immigrantstatus,childage,andgenderonaquestionnaireinspring inthelastyearofkindergarten.Teachersinkindergartenandfirst gradecompletedquestionnairesforindividualchildren,including theSurveyofEarlySchoolsAdjustmentDifficulty(Rimm-Kaufman, 2005),thatwasusedtoassesschildren’sself-regulationintheclass- room.Scoresinreadingcomprehensionandmathachievementin thethirddatacollectionpoint,derivedfromNationalassessments thatwerecarriedoutbytheschoolsincollaborationwithTheNor- wegianDirectorateforEducationandTraining.

2.4. Measures

2.4.1. Self-regulationinkindergartenandﬁrstgrade

2.4.1.1. Directly assessed self-regulation. Self-regulation was directly assessed with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS;McClellandetal.,2014).Thetestisashortgameappropri- ateforchildrenage4–8yearsandincludesthreeparts,eachwith tenitems.Theﬁrstpartrequireschildren totouchtheopposite bodypartof whatispresentedtothechild.For example,when theinstructorsays,“touchyourtoes,”thechildmusttouchhisor herheadandviceversa.Inthesecondpart,kneesandshoulders are added, and in the third part, the rules are switched. This task requires children to integrate several executive function skills,namely(1) payingattentiontotheinstructions,(2) using workingmemorytoremember and executenewrules, and (3) usinginhibitorycontrolthroughinhibitingthenatural response totheinstructor’scommand(McClellandetal.,2014).Thescoring systemis2pointsforacorrectresponse,1pointforaself-correct response,and0for anincorrectresponse. Inthepresentstudy, weonlyhadthesumscoresofthethreedifferentparts;thus,it wasnotpossibletocalculatethereliability. However,theHTKS has shown good psychometric properties in previous studies conductedin theU.S., Asia,and Europe(CameronPonitzet al., 2009;von Suchodoletzet al.,2013; Wanless etal., 2013), with Cronbach’salphareliability rangingfrom.92to.94(McClelland etal.,2014).IthasalsobeenusedinapreviousNorwegianstudy investigatingtheinﬂuenceofparentalsocioeconomicbackground andgenderon5-yearoldsself-regulation(Størksenetal.,2015).

Scoresrangedfrom0to60(including30testquestionsand,each scored0–2points).

2.4.1.2. Teacher-reported self-regulation. Self-regulation wasalso assessedthroughteacher-reportontheSurvey ofEarly Schools Adjustment Difﬁculty (ESAD;Rimm-Kaufman, 2005).This scale contains11itemsandisdesignedtoassesschildren’sadjustment totheclassroomenvironment.Thus,thesurveyisbroadlyfocused onself-regulationintheclassroomovertimeanddoesnotexplic- itlyfocusonworkingmemory,attention,andinhibitorycontrol.

Statementexamplesare;“thischildhasshowndifficultyfollow- ingdirections,”and“thischildhasshowndifficultytakingturnsor waitinguntilhis/herturntospeak.”Teachersrespondedtothese statementsforeachchildusinga5-pointscalerangingfrom1(no, notatalltrue)to3(sometimestrue)to5(yes,verytrue).Thereli- ability(Cronbach’salpha)was.91inkindergartenand.93infirst grade.Inordertohaveascalethatreflectedpositiveself-regulation intheclassroom,wereversedallitemsafterthedatawereentered.

Teacher-reportedself-regulation(ESAD)anddirectlyassessedself- regulation(HTKS)correlatedsigniﬁcantlyinkindergarten(r=.32, p<.001)andﬁrstgrade(r=.34,p<.001).

2.4.2. Academicskillsinkindergartenandﬁrstgrade

2.4.2.1. Vocabulary. Expressive vocabulary was tested with the Norwegian Vocabulary Test (NVT; Størksen, Ellingsen,Tvedt, &

Idsøe,2013)inkindergartenandﬁrstgrade.NVTisanamingtest whereanillustrationappearedonthetabletcomputerscreen,and thechildwassubsequentlyaskedtonameit.Thetesthas45items, andthereliabilitywas␣=.84inkindergartenand␣=.82inﬁrst grade.

2.4.2.2. Phonologicalawareness. Thisskillwasassessedinkinder- gartenandfirstgradeusingablendingtesttakenfromtheofficial screeningbatteryfromNorwegianDirectorateforEducationand Training(2012a).Thetesthas12itemsofincreasingdifficultyand wasautomaticallydiscontinuedafterthreefollowingerrors.Chil- drenwererequiredtoblendseparatelypronouncedphonemesinto thecorrespondingwholeword.Forexample,“hereyouseeanillus- trationof/hus/-/mur/-/mus/-/pus/(house,wall,mouse, catinEnglish).Yourtaskistotouchoneoftheseillustrationsafter Itellyouwhichone.Iamgoingtosaythewordinastrangeway becauseIpronounceonesoundatatime.Listencarefullyandtouch theillustrationthatgoeswith/p/-/u/-/s/.”Reliability(Cronbach’s alpha)for thistaskis␣=.75 (Solheim,Brønnvik,&Walgermo, 2013).

2.4.2.3. Early math.Math skills in kindergarten and ﬁrst grade wereassessed withtheAniBanani Math Test(ABMT;Størksen

&Mosvold,2013).The testis administeredona tabletand has 18 items,which include a littlemonkey called Ani Banani and his imaginedeveryday activities,such as counting toys, eating a certain amountof bananas, and doing a puzzle or copying a pattern with beads. It assesses three overlapping math areas:

problem-solving,geometry,andnumeracy.Reliabilitywassatisfac- tory,with␣=.73inkindergartenand␣=.68inﬁrstgrade.Thetask hasshownstrongpsychometricproperties(Størksen&Mosvold, 2013)andcorrelatedr=.74(unpublisheddata)withanotherval- idated earlynumeracytask, the EarlyNumeracy Test(Van Luit

&Van De Rijt, 2009)in kindergarten and r= .69 (unpublished data) with an existing teacher administered math assessment in ﬁrst grade (Norwegian Directoratefor Education & Training, 2012b).

2.4.3. Academicachievementinﬁfthgrade

2.4.3.1. Reading comprehension. Reading comprehension was assessed in fall 2016 by a mandatory National assessment of reading comprehension (Norwegian Directorate for Education

&Training,2016b).Thetestisconductedonacomputer,andit is constructed to assess how students use reading in different academic contexts and everyday situations. Students are given ampletime(90min)tocompletetheassessment.Thequestions are designed to assess three different reading skills: (1) Find informationintexts,(2)Interpretandcompareinformation,and (3)Reflectonandevaluatetheformandcontentofthetexts.The testhasfivetexts,andeachtextisfollowedbymultiple-choiceon acomputer.Therearefivetosevenitemspertext,withatotalof 30items.

2.4.3.2. Mathachievement. Mathachievementwasassessedinfall 2016byamandatoryNationalassessment(NorwegianDirectorate forEducation&Training,2016a).Thistesthas45items(90min)and focusesonhowstudentsusemathskillsinacademicandeveryday contextsandassessesthreedifferentmathaspects:(1)Numeracy, andhowstudentsmanagetousethefourarithmeticaloperations, (2)Measuringandgeometry(e.g.,length,area,volume,angle,mass, time,andscale),and(3)Statistics(e.g.,abilitytoorganize,analyze, presentandevaluatedata,tables,andcharts.

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Table1

Descriptivestatistics.

Measure N M SD Skewness Kurtosis Min Max

Childage,yearsT1 242 5.79 0.29 .06 −1.16 5.29 6.30

Percentofmale 241 50.2%

Mother’seducationlevel 240 3.28 1.30 .09 −1.54 1 5

Percentofimmigrants 237 5.3%

Phonologicalawareness^aT1 240 3.66 3.39 .59 −.91 0 12

Phonologicalawareness^aT2 233 10.21 1.92 −1.75 3.98 1 12

Expressivevocabulary^bT1 241 26.35 5.70 −.42 −.16 10 39

Expressivevocabulary^bT2 239 30.72 4.97 −.63 .44 14 42

Mathematics^cT1 241 10.62 3.13 −.32 −.19 2 18

Mathematics^cT2 239 14.52 2.57 −1.01 1.18 5 18

Self-regulation,directlyassessed^dT1 241 34.46 15.67 −.62 −.40 0 60

Self-regulation,directlyassessed^dT2 239 47.48 9.83 −1.73 5.31 0 60

Self-regulation,teacher-reported^eT1 243 4.32 .83 −1.35 .97 1.64 5.00

Self-regulation,teacher-reported^eT2 240 4.39 .86 −1.57 1.84 1.18 5.00

Readingcomprehension^fT3 159 49.89 9.94 .13 −.65 26 74

Mathematicalachievement^gT3 160 50.88 9.75 .26 −.24 28 78

Note:T1=kindergarten,T2=ﬁrstgrade,T3=ﬁfthgrade.Mother’seducationwascoded:1=juniorhighschool,2=seniorhighschool,3=1–2yearsofcollege/university,4= 3yearsofcollege/universityeducation,5=morethan3yearsofcollege/universityeducation.Immigrantstatuswascoded:1=childrenwithbothparentsborninanother countrythanNorway,and0=allotherchildren.

aNorwegianBlendingTest.

bNorwegianVocabularyTest.

c AniBananiMathTest.

d Head-Toes-Knees-ShoulderTask.

eSurveyofEarlySchoolAdjustmentDifﬁculty(reversed).

f NationalAssessmentonReadingComprehension.

gNationalAssessmentonMathematicalachievement.

2.4.4. Demographics

2.4.4.1. Covariatesandauxiliaryvariables. Thesevariablesincluded mother’s education level, immigrant status, gender, and age reportedthrough a parentalquestionnaire in kindergarten.The meanscoreofthemother’seducationlevelwas3.28attheﬁrstdata collectionpoint.Immigrantstatuswasusedasanauxiliaryvariable andcodedas1=childrenwithbothparentsborninanothercountry thanNorway(5.3%),and0=allotherchildren.

2.5. Analyticstrategy

Childrenwerenestedineightdifferentschools,sowe calcu- latedintra-classcoefﬁcients(ICC).ICCsrepresenttheproportion ofthetotalvariabilityintheoutcomethatisattributabletothe classes(Geiser,2013).Phonologicalawarenessinﬁrstgradehad an ICCof .06. For all othervariables, the ICCs ranged between 0.00−0.04.AstheICCwasnotsubstantial(Hox,2002), analyses adjustingforpotentialnestedeffectswerenotconsidered.Weesti- matedpathmodelsusingMplussoftwareVersion7.3(Muthén&

Muthén,1998-2015Muthén&Muthén,1998-2015).Thepathmod- elsincludedvariables fromallthreedata collectionpoints,and separatemodelswereconductedforthecontentareasofreading comprehensionandmathachievement.Becausepreviousresearch (Hernándezetal.,2018;McKinnon&Blair,2018;tenBraaketal., 2019)suggeststhepossibilityofbidirectionaleffectsbetweenself- regulationandearlylanguageandmathskillsacrossthetransition fromkindergartentofirstgrade,allvariablesweresetaspredic- torsoftheoutcomevariablesinfirstandfifthgrade.Thus,initially, weestimatedsaturatedpathmodelsinwhichallexogenousvari- ablesandcovariateswereallowedtoaffectoneanotherandthe outcomevariables.Covariancesbetweentheexogenousvariables, andresidualcovariancesbetweentheintermediatevariableswere includedinmodelestimation.Forthesakeofparsimony,weelimi- natedonebyone,allpathsthatwerenotstatisticallysignificantat the.05probabilitylevel.Weevaluatedthefitofthemodelsafter thetrimming,andthefollowingfitindicesandcriteriawereused:

p-value␹²>.05,CFI,andTLI≥.95,RMSEA≤.06andSRMR≤.08 (Hu&Bentler,1999).Thereducedpathmodelwascomparedtothe saturatedmodelbyusingachi-squaredifferencetest.Theindirect

effectsweretestedusingthemodelindirectcommandinMplus andbootstrappingprocessprocedure(Hayes,2012).

3. Results

Thepresentstudyinvestigatedpathwaysfromchildren’searly self-regulationtoﬁrstgradeandﬁfthgradeacademicachievement.

Table 1and Table 2 presentsdescriptive statistics and correla- tions,respectively,forallvariables.AscanbeseeninTable1,the shapeofthedistributionofthedatawasnotseverelynon-normal (Kline,2016).Robustmaximumlikelihood(MLR)wasusedtodeal withoutliersandnon-normaldistributionsinthedatainthefur- therpathanalysesinMplus(Muthén&Muthén,1998-2015Muthén

&Muthén,1998-2015).Thevarianceinﬂationfactorvalueswere allbelowten,indicatingthatmulticollinearitywasnotaproblem withinthedata(Field,2013).

Theself-regulationmeasuresin kindergartenwerepositively correlated with all first grade academic skills (Table 2). The weakestcorrelationwasbetweenteacher-reportedself-regulation in kindergarten and phonological awareness in first grade (r = .28, p<.001),and thestrongestwasbetweendirectlyassessed self-regulationinkindergartenand mathscoresin firstgrade(r

=.48,p<.001).Theself-regulationmeasuresinkindergartenand first grade all correlated withfifth grade achievement, ranging fromr=.32,p<.001forthecorrelationsbetweendirectlyassessed self-regulationinkindergartenandfifthgradereadingcomprehen- sionandmathachievement,tor=.48,p<.001forthecorrelation betweendirectlyassessedself-regulationinfirstgradeandfifth grademathachievement.

Theﬁtofthetrimmedmodelforreadingcomprehension(Fig.1)² wasgood,␹²(22)=19.74,p=.60,RMSEA=.000,CFI=1.000,TLI=

2Nonsigniﬁcantpathsareexcludedandsigniﬁcantcovariatesarenotdisplayed inFig.1andFig.2

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Table2

Correlationsforallstudyvariables.N=243.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

1.Childage –

2.Gender −.03 –

3.Mother’seducationlevel .04 −.07 – 4.Immigrantstatus −.01 .09 −.15* – 5.Phono.awarenessâT1 .20** −.28*** .20** −.09 – 6.Expressivevoc.^bT1 .14* −.12 .28*** −.41*** .41*** – 7.Mathematics^cT1 .18** −.17** .29*** −.07 .40*** .46*** – 8.SR,directlyassessed^dT1 .14* −.23*** .13* −.06 .38*** .33*** .48*** – 9.SR,teacher-reportedêT1 .13* −.30*** .23*** −.12 .28*** .30*** .36*** .32*** – 10.Phono.awarenessâT2 .07 −.27*** .17* −.14* .40*** .40*** .35*** .31*** .23** – 11.Expressivevoc.^bT2 .12* −.11 .31*** −.40*** .34*** .82*** .43*** .30*** .24*** .35*** – 12.Mathematics^cT2 .12 −.16* .32*** −.05 .41*** .40*** .67*** .48*** .39*** .37*** .40*** – 13.SR,directlyassessed^dT2 .06 −.08 .20*** .05 .20*** .32*** .44*** .38*** .30*** .31*** .30*** .46*** – 14.SR,teacher-reportedêT2 .11 −.30*** .22** −.13 .23*** .24*** .41*** .32*** .70*** .24** .19** .43*** .34*** – 15.Reading^fT3 .03 −.14 .35*** −.23*** .34*** .50*** .51*** .32*** .36*** .27** .44*** .50*** .38*** .40*** – 16.Mathematics^gT3 .01 −.07 .32*** .04 .26*** .37*** .61*** .32*** .39*** .27*** .35*** .62*** .48*** .36*** .67*** – Note.T1=kindergarten,T2=firstgrade,T3=fifthgrade,SR=self-regulation.Genderwascoded:1=girls,and2=boys.Immigrantstatuswascoded:1=childrenwithboth parentsborninanothercountrythanNorway,and0=allotherchildren.

* p<.05.

** p<.01.

***p<.001.

aNorwegianBlendingTest.

b NorwegianVocabularyTest.

c AniBananiMathTest.

d Head-Toes-Knees-ShoulderTask.

eSurveyofEarlySchoolAdjustmentDifﬁculty(reversed).

f NationalAssessmentonReadingComprehension.

gNationalAssessmentonMathachievement.

Fig.1. Directlyassessedandteacher-reportedself-regulationpredictingfirstgradevocabularyandphonologicalawareness,andfifthgradereadingcomprehensionwhen accountedforallotherfactorsinthemodel(includingcovariates).âNorwegianVocabularyTest,^bNorwegianBlendingTest,^cHead-Toes-Knees-ShoulderTask,^dSurveyof EarlySchoolAdjustmentDifficulty(reversed),êNationalAssessmentonReadingComprehension.Covariates:age,gender,andmother’seducationareincludedinthemodel butarenotdisplayedforreasonsofclarity.Covariancesbetweentheexogenousvariablesandresidualcovariancesbetweentheintermediatevariableswereincludedin modelestimation.Allpathsthatwerenotstatisticallysignificantatthe.05probabilitylevelwereeliminatedfromthemodel.Auxiliaryvariable:Immigrantstatus.

1.007,SRMR=.044.Thechi-squaredifferencetest,usingSatorra- BentlercorrectionduetotheMLRestimator(Muthén&Muthén, 2018),showedthatthetrimmedmodeldidnothaveasigniﬁcantly worseﬁtcomparedtothesaturatedmodel,␹² (22)=19.74,p

=.599. Directlyassessedandteacher-reportedself-regulationin kindergartendidnotsignificantlypredictfirstgradevocabularyor phonologicalawareness,andtheyhadnosignificantdirecteffects onfifthgradereadingcomprehension.However,teacher-reported self-regulationinkindergartenhadasignificantindirecteffecton fifthgradereadingcomprehensionthroughteacher-reportedself- regulationinfirstgrade(ˇ=.13,95%CI[0.38,2.91]).Finally,directly assessed(ˇ=.16,p=.015)andteacher-reportedself-regulation(ˇ

=.20,p=.004)infirstgradeweresignificantpredictorsofread- ingcomprehensioninfifthgrade,whilecontrollingfor allother variablesinthemodel.

Regardingcovariates,childagedidnotsignificantlypredictany ofthevariablesandwasthereforeexcludedfromthemodel.Beinga boyhadsignificantlynegativeeffectonkindergartenphonological awareness(ˇ=−.24,p<.001),directlyassessed(ˇ=−.20,p=.001) andteacher-reported(ˇ=−.27,p<.001)self-regulation,firstgrade phonologicalawareness(ˇ=−.18,p<.001)andteacher-reported self-regulation(ˇ=−.10,p=.028).Mother’seducationhadasig- nificantpositiveeffectonkindergartenphonologicalawareness(ˇ

=.15,p=.010),vocabulary(ˇ=.25,p<.001),teacher-reportedself-

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Fig.2.Directlyassessedandteacher-reportedself-regulationpredictingfirstgrademathskillsandfifthgrademathachievementwhenaccountedforallotherfactorsinthe model(includingcovariates).âAniBananiMathTest,^bHead-Toes-Knees-ShoulderTask,^cSurveyofEarlySchoolAdjustmentDifficulty(reversed),^dNationalAssessment onMathAchievement.Covariates:age,gender,andmother’seducationareincludedinthemodelbutarenotdisplayedforreasonsofclarity.Covariancesbetweenthe exogenousvariablesandresidualcovariancesbetweentheintermediatevariableswereincludedinmodelestimation.Allpathsthatwerenotstatisticallysignificantatthe .05probabilitylevelwereeliminatedfromthemodel.Auxiliaryvariable:Immigrantstatus.

regulation(ˇ=.19,p<.001),ﬁrstgradevocabulary(ˇ=.09,p= .021)andﬁfthgradereadingcomprehension(ˇ=.21,p=.002).

3.2. Self-regulation,earlymathskills,andmathachievement Thefitofthetrimmedmodelformathachievement(Fig.2)was good,␹²(11)=14.38,p=.21,RMSEA=.036,CFI=.995,TLI=.983, SRMR=.040.Thetrimmedmodeldidnothaveasignificantlyworse fitcomparedtothesaturatedmodel,␹² (11)=14.38,p=.213 (Muthén&Muthén,2018).Directlyassessed(ˇ=.19,p=.001)and teacher-reportedself-regulation(ˇ=.13,p=.019)inkindergarten significantly predictedfirst grade math skills,while controlling forkindergartenmathematics. Noneof theself-regulation mea- suresinkindergartenhadasignificantdirecteffectonfifthgrade mathscores.However,directlyassessedself-regulationinkinder- gartenhadasignificantindirecteffectonmathachievementinfifth grade,throughmathskills(ˇ=.06,95%CI[0.01,0.07]),anddirectly assessedself-regulation(ˇ=.04,95%CI[0.00,0.05])infirstgrade.

Moreover,directlyassessedself-regulationinﬁrstgrade(ˇ=.19,p

=.002),butnotteacher-reportedself-regulation,signiﬁcantlypre- dictedmathachievementinﬁfthgrade,whileallothervariablesin themodelwereaccountedfor(Fig.2).

Afterthetrimmingprocedure,child agedidnotsigniﬁcantly predictanyofthevariablesandthus,wasexcludedfromthemodel.

Boys had significantly lower math scores (ˇ = −.15, p= .015), directlyassessed(ˇ=−.23,p<.001)andteacher-reported(ˇ=−.29, p<.001)self-regulationinkindergarten,andteacher-reportedself- regulation(ˇ=−.09,p=.044)infirstgrade.Mother’seducationhad asignificantpositiveeffectonkindergartenmathskills(ˇ=.24,p

<.001),teacher-reportedself-regulation(ˇ=.19,p<.001),andon ﬁrstgrademathskills(ˇ=.11,p=.024).

4. Discussion

Thepresentstudyexaminedpathwaysfromdirectlyassessed andteacher-reportedself-regulationtovocabulary,phonological awareness,andmathskillsinfirstgrade,andreadingcomprehen- sionandmathachievementinfifthgrade.Thestudywasconducted ina society witha play-basedpedagogicalapproach in kindergarten,wherethetransitiontoastructuredlearningenvironment in first grade may require strong demands on children’s self- regulation.Pathmodelsshowedthatchildren’sself-regulationin kindergartensignificantlypredictedmathskillsinfirstgrade,and self-regulationinfirstgradepredictedreadingcomprehensionand mathachievementinfifthgrade.Indirecteffectswerealsofound

where associations betweenself-regulation and academicskills weredependentonthetypeofself-regulationmeasureandout- comedomain.

Consistent with previous literature, we found that directly assessed, and teacher-reported self-regulation in first grade uniquely predicted fifth grade reading comprehension while controllingforpriorself-regulation,backgroundvariables,andpre- viousacademicskills(Birgisdóttiretal.,2015;G.J.Duncanetal., 2007;McClellandetal.,2006).Althoughbothself-regulationmea- suresinkindergartenweresignificantlyassociatedwithfifthgrade reading comprehension,there werenosignificantdirect effects onreading comprehension in fifth grade.The inclusion of first gradeself-regulationandacademicskillsinthepathmodelmay explainthelackofsignificantpathsbecausepreviousresearchhas shownthatskillsmeasuredlaterarebetterpredictors(G.J.Duncan etal., 2007;Welsh etal.,2010).However,wedidfindanindi- recteffectfromteacher-reportedself-regulationinkindergarten toreading comprehensionthrough first grade teacher-reported self-regulation.Neitherdirectlyassessednorteacher-reportedself- regulation in kindergarten uniquely predicted vocabulary and phonologicalawarenessinfirstgrade,whencontrollingforprior languageskillsandcovariates.

Regarding the indirect effect from teacher-reported self- regulationtoreadingcomprehensionthroughfirstgradeteacher- reportedself-regulation,oneinterpretationmaybethatchildren performinghighonteacher-reportedself-regulationintheplay- basedand lessstructuredkindergartensadaptedmore easilyto thestructuredlearningenvironmentinfirstgrade.Children’sabil- itytoregulatetheirbehaviorinthefirstgradeclassroomcontext may,inturn,haveledtohigherteacher-reportedself-regulationat theendoffirstgrade,comparedtotheirlessself-regulatedpeers.

It is alsopossiblethat children’searlyself-regulation predicted laterself-regulationinaknowledgebegetsknowledgeway.Thus, earlyself-regulationhelpedchildrendobetteronsubsequentself- regulation.Whenchildrenarehighlyregulatedintheclassroom, they,forexample,workindependently,executegoalsandstayon tasks,anddonotgetdistractedbypeers.Thus,itiseasierforchil- drentofocusandpersistonreadingtasksduringsubsequentschool years, includingdoing betteronreading comprehensioninﬁfth grade.Priorresearchhasreportedthatchildrenlowonteacher- reportedself-regulationalsohadlessschoolengagement,whichin

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turnledtoloweracademicoutcomes(Portilla,Ballard,Adler,Boyce,

&Obradovi ´c,2014).

In line with prior research (Birgisdóttir et al., 2015) and ourhypotheses, both self-regulation assessments in first grade uniquely predicted fifth grade reading comprehension. These resultssuggest thatin addition tochildren’s abilityto regulate theirbehaviorinthesocialclassroomcontextovertime,thecog- nitivedemandsoftheHTKStaskwerelikelyneededforreading comprehension.Thesecognitiveprocesses,includingattentionalor cognitiveflexibility,workingmemory,andinhibitorycontrol,may helpchildrencomprehendasentenceorseriesofsentencesand drawinferencesforwhatmaycomenext(Blairetal.,2011;Sesma etal.,2009).Forexample,arecentreviewsuggestedthatworking memorysupportsthereader’scomprehensionbymaintainingthe activationofrelevantinformationinworkingmemory,inhibitory controlsupportsitbysuppressingtheactivationofirrelevanttext information,andcognitiveflexibilitysupportscomprehensionby flexible allocatingattention tofeatures of thetextand reading strategies(Butterfuss&Kendeou,2018).

Contrarytoourexpectationsbasedonpriorﬁndingsshowing thatbothtypesofself-regulationassessmentshavepredictedearly languageskills(Blair&Razza,2007;Bohlmann&Downer,2016;

Gestsdottiretal.,2014;Matthewsetal.,2009;Weilandetal.,2014), wefoundnosignificanteffectsfromdirectlyassessedandteacher- reportedself-regulationinkindergartentofirstgradevocabulary andphonologicalawareness.However,ourresultsareinlinewith someprior studies(Fuhs&Day, 2011;McClellandet al.,2007), findingthat thepredictiverole ofself-regulationforvocabulary andearlyliteracyskillsbecamenonsignificantwhencontrolling forpriorachievement.

Ourfindingsmaysuggestthatchildren’svocabularyandphono- logicalawarenessbecomemoreautomatizedbytheend offirst gradeandrequireslessself-regulation(Blairetal.,2011).However, thelackofsignificantpathsfromself-regulationinkindergartento vocabularyinfirstgrademayalsoreflectthatchildren’svocabu- larywashighlystablefromkindergartentofirstgrade,whichleft littlevariancetobeaccountedforbyothervariables,suchasself- regulation.Thestrongstabilitybetweenvocabularyinkindergarten andfirstgrademeansthattherank-orderwasalreadyestablished inkindergarten,whichmayalsoexplainwhyvocabularyinfirst grade(e.g.,residualchange)didnotsignificantlypredictreading comprehensioninfifthgradeoverandabovevocabularyinkinder- garten.Thiswassupportedbyfurtherexaminationsshowingthat firstgradevocabularysignificantlypredictedfifthgradereading comprehensionwithoutkindergartenvocabularyinthemodel.

Interms of phonologicalawareness, another possibleexpla- nationfor thelackof signiﬁcantpathsis that thephonological awarenessmeasureinﬁrstgradehadaslightceilingeffectanda morerestrictedrange.Thismay,inturn,leadtounderestimated effects(Hessling,Traxel,&Schmidt,2004).Moreover,wecontrolled forage,gender,andmaternaleducationbecausepreviousresearch hasshownthattheyarerelatedtochildren’sself-regulationand academicoutcomes(McClellandetal.,2014;Størksenetal.,2015).

However,controllingforthesevariablesmayhavealsocontrolled fortruesourcesofvarianceinself-regulation.Forexample,control- lingforgendermayhaveattenuatedtheeffectofself-regulationin kindergartenonfirstgradephonologicalawarenessbecausegirls havebothbetterself-regulationinkindergartenandbetterphono- logicalawareness in firstgrade. In linewithrecent researchin Norway(tenBraaketal.,2019),theinclusionofvocabularyinthe modelmayhaveattenuatedhowbothtypesofself-regulationin kindergartenpredictedphonologicalawarenessinfirstgrade.The modelsinthepresentstudywerebasedonpreviousresearchanda prioripredictions,buttheseissuesshouldbeinvestigatedinfuture research.

4.2. Self-regulation,earlymathskills,andmathachievement Consistentwithpriorresearch(Allanetal.,2014;Blair&Razza, 2007;Brocketal.,2009;Gestsdottiretal.,2014;Matthewsetal., 2009), resultsshowed that both measures of self-regulation in kindergartenweresigniﬁcantpredictorsofﬁrstgrademathskills.

Thedirectassessmentofself-regulationalsohadanindirecteffect onfifthgrademathachievementthroughfirstgrademathematics anddirectlyassessedself-regulation.Moreover,directlyassessed self-regulation in first grade significantly predicted fifth grade mathachievementwhilecontrollingforpriorself-regulation,backgroundvariables,andpreviousmathskills.

Contrarytotheresultsforfirstgradelanguageskills,bothself- regulationassessments inkindergarten uniquelycontributedto mathskillsinfirstgrade.Theseresultsareconsistentwithprior researchshowingthatself-regulation(bothdirectlyassessedand teacher-reported) issignificantly morestrongly associated with mathskillsthanlanguageskillsinpreschoolandkindergartenage (Allanetal.,2014).Thefactthatbothmethodsofassessingself- regulationpredictedfirstgrademathematicsoverandaboveeach other,mayindicatethatchildren’scognitivecapacity,aswellas theiradjustmenttothelearningenvironment infirstgrade,are essentialforacquiringmathskills.Theuniquecontributionfrom teacher-reportedself-regulation,evenwhenthedirectassessment wasincludedinthemodel,mayberelatedtothestructuralchanges andnewsocialexpectationsthatchildrenexperienceinthetran- sition fromthe play-basedenvironment in kindergarten tothe structuredlearningenvironmentinfirstgrade.Childrenwithweak self-regulationmaystruggletomeetthesenewdemandsinschool (e.g.,toraisetheirhand,waitforaturn,andtobelessphysically active).Incontrast,highlyself-regulatedchildrenmayadaptmore easilytofirstgrade,whichinturnhelpsthemtakeadvantageof instructioninmathematics.

Havingthecognitiveself-regulatoryabilities,asmeasuredby thedirectassessment,maybeespeciallyimportantin thetran- sitionfromkindergartentofirstgradeinNorwaysince planned mathactivitiesarenothighlyprioritizedinkindergarten(Østrem etal.,2009).Thus,thedifferencesinacademicfocusinkindergarten andfirstgrademayrequirehighlevelsofthecognitiveprocesses involvedinself-regulationtocopewithnewmathtasksandcon- ceptsintroducedinfirstgrade.Itiscriticaltoacquiremathskills duringfirstgradebecausetheseskillstendtobestableovertime (G.J.Duncanetal.,2007).

In linewith prior research (Hubert et al., 2015), we found thatchildrenwithhighscoresondirectlyassessedself-regulation inkindergartenperformedbetteronthemathtaskanddirectly assessedself-regulationinfirstgrade,whichinturnledtohigher scoresin fifthgrade mathematics.This supportsotherresearch suggestingtheimportanceofearlyself-regulationforlaterachieve- mentwhereself-regulationmaygivechildrentheskillstheyneed tobestronginmathinfirstandfifthgrade.Forexample,mathe- maticslikelymakesconsistent,ongoingdemandsonhigher-order reasoningabilitywherechildrencannotrelyonautomatizedskills (Blairetal.,2011)andthereforerequirestrongself-regulation(Bull

&Scerif,2001).

Ourfindingsalsosupportresearchreportingthatlinksbetween self-regulation and mathematics were stronger for directly assessedself-regulationthanforteacher-reportedself-regulation (Schmittetal.,2014).Thelackofsignificantpathsfromchildren’s teacher-reportedself-regulationin theclassroomonfifthgrade mathematicssuggeststhat thecomplex cognitiveabilities (e.g., higherdemandsonworkingmemory)tappedbythedirectassess- ment weremost related tolater math achievement(Matthews etal.,2009;Schmittetal.,2014).Thecomplexcognitiveskills,as measuredin theHTKStask,aresimilarskillstowhatisneeded tosolvemathproblems,thatis,topayattentiontotheproblem,