Developmental Risk and Young Children’s Regulatory Strategies: Predicting Behavior Problems at Age Five

Children with early developmental delays are at heightened risk for behavior problems and comorbid psychopathology. This study
examined the trajectories of regulatory capabilities and their potentially mediating role in the development of behavior problems
for children with and without early developmental delays. A sample of 231 children comprised of 137 typically developing children
and 94 children with developmental delays were examined during mildly frustrating laboratory tasks across the preschool period
(ages 3–5). Results indicated that children with delays had greater use of maladaptive strategies (distraction, distress venting)
and lower use of adaptive strategies (constructive coping) than typically developing children. For both groups, strategies
had similar rates of growth across time; maladaptive strategies decreased and adaptive strategies increased. The intercept
of strategy use, but not the slope, was found to mediate the relation between developmental risk and externalizing behaviors.
Findings support that dysregulation, rather than the developmental risk, may be responsible for the high levels of comorbid
psychopathology.