1. Joe Tise, Mark Hinson, Amanda Scarangella, Deon Brown, Kristin Austin, & Thomas Ollendick
Child Study Center, Virginia Tech Presented at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Conference , Blacksburg, VA, April 24th, 2015
INTRODUCTION
TABLE 1: MLR Model
METHOD (cont.)
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
METHOD
In this study, there were a total of 48 participants with 1
invalid case due to missing data. Of these 48 participants, there
were 20 male (41.7%), 28 female (58.3%) with the following
racial statistics: 35 Caucasian (72.9%), 2 African (4.2%), 6 Asian
Pacific (12.5%), 1 Latino/Hispanic (2.1%), 2 Biracial (4.2%),
and 1 Multiracial (2.1%). Prior to the study, participants
completed a survey in which data was collected on self-concept
and the impact of age on emotion self-regulation. Afterwards,
the data was collected and analyzed using SPSS software.
In order to assess self-confidence and emotional regulation,
there were two main tests administered to the participants. The
Conner’s Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS; Conners, Erhardt,
& Sparrow, 1999) and The Barkley Deficits in Executive
Functioning Scale (BDEFS; Barkley, 2011) were administered to
assess self-concept and the impact of age on emotion self-
regulation, respectively.
Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) techniques were used to
thoroughly analyze the 441 participant scores on the BDEFS
and CAARS scales
1Two outlier points were identified and removed using
diagnostic techniques analyzing the studentized residuals,
Cook’s D value, Hat Matrix values and Normal Quantile
plots for justification.
ANOVA (p<0.05) and Multiple Linear Regression [F-ratio
10.4213 (P>F = 0.0002)] were performed.
Preliminary results indicated that self-regulation of emotion was a
significant predictor of self-concept (p<0.001**), whereas age was
not (p<0.1704).
It can be suggested for this sample, holding all others constant, if
an individual suffers from emotion regulation deficits their self-
concept declines.
FIGURE 1: Regression Graphs
College is a time of growth, exploration, and
learning. It’s well known that many students develop
much of their self-concept during their time in college.
Our goal is to understand what factors may contribute to
self-concept in undergraduate college students. Previous
research has suggested that emotion regulation is related
to academic success in kindergarteners (Graziano et al.,
2007). Specifically, they found that students feel good
when they succeed and bad when they fail, suggesting that
academic self-concept may be affected by emotion
regulation. Additional analyses will include more
participants and investigate the potential role of school
performance on self-concept. Further, self-concept is
intimately linked with self-esteem, as self-esteem depends
on one’s perception of himself. In a study of
undergraduate students, self-esteem was found to be
associated with emotion regulation, and the authors
suggested that self-esteem may be especially important for
certain types of positive events and positive emotion
regulation (Wood, Heimpel, & Michela, 2003). We
hypothesize that younger students and worse emotion
regulation skills will be related to decreased self-concept.
We see from this study that emotion regulation is
correlated with self concept. These findings are similar to
those of Wood, Heimpel, & Michela (2003), who found
that positive self-concept is important for certain types of
positive events, and positive emotion regulation. Why
should the field of psychology care about these findings?
As is well known, college is a time of great change and
personal development. Often, it’s a time when students
determine the trajectory of the rest of their lives. This
being the case, it stands to reason that having a positive
self concept would behoove students (as seen in the study
by Wood, Heimpel, & Michela 2003 who studied
undergraduate students as well). Further, emotion
regulation has also been found to be linked with academic
success in kindergarten kids (Graziano, Reavis, Keane &
Calkins 2007). If the same holds true for college students,
the importance is self-evident since we know success in
college often determines success in later careers. The
study was not perfect however. One limitation was that
data used for the study was originally collected for
another purpose. Further, all the responses were self-
report, so some social desirability bias could have skewed
results. With this in mind, the authors suggest that further
research focus on creating a study with more strict
measurements of self-concept and emotion regulation.
How you feel vs. Who you are: How emotion regulation impacts
self-concept