Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Self-regulation across the lifespan

Self-regulation across the lifespan:
How does self-regulation develop from childhood through ageing and what drives these changes?

Overview

Scenario Think back to when you were a toddler and you spilt a drink that you really wanted. Chances are, it resulted in a tantrum with kicking, tears and screaming. The liquid fell down onto the table creating a mess everywhere and you weren't able to do anything to calm your emotions or fix the situation. Chances are you wouldn't do that if you spilt a drink today (hopefully). Imagine yourself as you are now in the same situation. Rather than throwing a tantrum you take a deep breathe to calm yourself and grab some paper towel to soak it up. This is an example of self-regulation As we get older and change, so do the ways we self-regulate. The internal mechanisms we use to calm ourselves, as well as the procedures we put in place to cope with change also evolve and change throughout out lifespan. What are some other things you cope with differently as an adult that you did differently as a child?

Self-regulation is one of the many subtopics that are used in researching the self an identity within the psychology field. Often the term is used interchangeably with self-control across research. When it comes to interpreting what self-regulation, self-control may be a better term to understand the mechanisms behind it. Self-regulation is the effort we put within ourselves to control our emotions, mental states, or actions (Vohs & Bauhmeister, 2018).

How does self-regulation change from childhood years to adult years? What stays the same and what changes? What causes these changes? These questions effect a large population within society. Mental health professionals, parents and more. Understanding how we regulate, as well as how it shapes and grows, not only benefits the self but how others can best help each other.

Focus questions What is self-regulation? How does it change throughout the lifespan? What are the consistency's? What are the associated brain areas?

What is self-regulation?

Self-regulation (SR) is based around higher order brain function and executive function such as controlling emotions, avoiding inappropriate actions and carrying out self-directed learning (Pandey et al, 2018). Across psychological literature SR is based around achieving goals, rather than just the functions that are encompassed under its umbrella. Studies are research use SR as a measure for how individuals’ complete tasks, or long-term goals. For self-regulation to be successful, people must be aware of themselves, their behaviors, emotions and complex social norms (Heatherton, 2011).

To understand how self-regulation develops it is best to break the lifespan down into three states. Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood. The vast majority of research is either catered to one of the three states. While encompassing the entirety of the lifespan after adolescence into one group of it's own may seem limiting, the current state of the literature is best reflected this way as it breaks them down into similar categories.

State of the literature

Overall there is a majority of research around childhood years, as well as adolescents, with minimal on how it develops within adult populations. While it may appear to be a gap within the literature it actually reflects the intensity of development in the earlier years of life within regulation skills, which slowly drops off with age.

Goal setting and achievement

The reason why self-regulation is based around goal setting and achievement is that self-regulation is a broad, abstract concept, that spans multiple different psychological theories and disciplines. Focusing it towards goal's operationalizes it into a testable and researchable variable, which is why across the literature and models it is find tuned towards goal setting and achievement. (Karoly, 1993)

Table 1.

	Descriptions
Goal Setting	Identifying and selection of a dedicated path (or paths) that someone sets out to achieve. Usually a specific thing, place or state of being that someone wishes to move towards, different to their current state of being.
Goal Achievement	The dedicated steps and processes that someone puts in place with an intent to achieve a goal, and move towards their desires state of being

How does it change throughout the lifespan?

Figure 1. Building blocks for childhood learning

Childhood

Self-regulation in childhood years is more limited and situational in comparison to how it develops in adolescents and adults. Their development is predominantly focused on socialization as their higher order functions, which self-regulation is based on, are less developed due to their prefrontal cortex still being in the process of growing (Lévesque et al, 2004.) Instead we see children developing self-regulation entirely based on what is present within a child life, and the day to day exposure they are given (McClelland et al, 2015). A child will not learn regulation skills they have not seen, or personally encountered. For any development to take place they must experience stimuli and struggle to develop on their own, which is seen more in later life stages.

For example a child who engages socially may be able to regulate better in emotional situations than one who rarely engages. That same child may get overwhelmed by lots of complex thoughts instead. They are slowly building up these skills one by one. No two children will have developed their self-regulation on the same timeline.

A vast majority of the development is based around socialization and how to fit within social norms (Posner & Rothbart, 2000). Development during the childhood years is setting them up for further stages of life, and gives them the building blocks necessary to develop these skills later on (Montroy et al, 2016).

Adolescence

Throughout the human lifespan, adolescents go through the most intense and vigorous changes in comparison to the other life states from a health perspective due to puberty (Lerner et al, 2018). They often have a deficit in at least on area of their life whether it be mentally, socially, or physically. Naturally their self-regulation develops to match this.

Figure 2. Mental health spelled out

Overall self-regulation takes a turn toward coping with mental health, and regulating self-esteem and these often take the biggest hit during adolescent years(van Genugten, L et al, 2016). Rather than developing strategies to to physically alter a situation, development predominantly is cognitive. Adolescents are going to develop some degree of negative self-esteem, so the brain naturally combats that. While adolescents may not necessarily develop positive self-esteem due to this, during these years they are at their greatest capacity to develop their mental based self-regulation.(Nguyen et al, 2025)

The current state of the literature is based around this, with a vast majority of research around adolescents' self-regulation being around mental health and self-esteem. It seems to be focused towards looking at how self-regulation can assist in combating dips in mental health and self esteem

Adulthood

Throughout adulthood self-regulation uses the skills learnt through childhood and adolescence and develops them further. It is based around creating a strong sense of self, and grounding what is already present rather than developing new strategies (Skowron et al, 2003). While it isn't impossible for new forms of self-regulation strategies to develop, by the time people are well within to their adult years the one's already present will be sufficient enough for their current state of being. (Assuming no major changes occur)

The majority of development in the adult years is about expanding and enhancing what they already know. In fact there is a stronger capacity to expand on what is already known the older adults get (Hertzog & Dunlosky, 2011) The changes push adults to go deeper into what they already know, and what regulation tools they already have. While they may be surface level in adolescent years and be 'good enough', the adult mind pushes them to go further.

Overall there is less research on self-regulation within the adult mind and it's development, in comparison to previous life states. A majority of the research surrounding adults is in comparison to children, rather than focusing on them exclusively. (Lévesque et al, 2004.) Instead a majority of the conclusions surrounding the later stages of life come as a by product of comparison to adolescence or childhood years. Developmentally there is less going on within them than previous years.

Key point Childhood: Kids will only develop based on their life experiences Development is usually catered towards socialization Adolescence: Geared towards mental health Major development of cognitive based regulation skills Adulthood: Have the least amount of development Based around strengthen current regulation strategies and mechanisms instead of developing more

Consistencies

The biggest consistency across the lifespan is that the same areas of the brain are used during self-regulation the entire time. While the strength, and amount of activity varies it never completely stops. (Heatherton, 2011). It's at it's strongest during adolescent and adult years, with a significant dip in activity during childhood, likely due to socialization still occurring

Brain regions

Figure 3. Image of the brain highlighting the prefrontal cortex

As self-regulation is entirely a high order thinking process, it is associated with activity in the prefrontal cortex. Specifically the areas are:

• The orbital frontal cortex
• Lateral prefrontal cortex
• Anterior Cingulate Cortex

(Heatherton, 2011)

Struggles with self-regulation tend to occurs when sub-cortical regions of the brain show higher activity. (Heatherton & Wagner, 2011). This is due to the higher order thinking that self-regulation is based upon, as well as the fact that it requires the brain's inhibition responses (Heatherton, 2011) There is also signs of activity within the regions of the brain associated with language and social activity, but vary on a case by case basis (Heatherton, 201;Heatherton & Wagner, 2011)

Childhood brain function

• Weaker activation when compared to older states of life.
• Bilateral activation of the prefrontal cortex
• Engages during emotional and social regulation stimuli

(Lévesque et al, 2004.)

Adolescent brain function

• Stronger activation of prefrontal cortex as it begins to develop
• Stronger interference from sub-cortical structures
• Based on creating new pathways and mechanisms (Lévesque et al, 2004; Heatherton & Wagner, 2011)

Adult brain function

• Strongest amount of activity within the prefrontal cortex
• Based on strengthening already existing pathways over developing new ones (Heatherton & Wagner, 2011)

Major points Main brain activity is within the prefrontal cortex Activity within the prefrontal cortex is present throughout the entire lifespan While constantly present, it's weaker during childhood years and gets stronger with age

Conclusion

Self-regulation is a subtopic of psychological research around the self and identity. From a psychological perspective self-regulation is about setting goals and achieving them, as well as the mental and physical ways we cope with getting there. Psychology looks at it from a goal perspective as self-regulation is a broad topic, and goes across multiple field within psychology. Looking at it this way breaks it down to be easily testable for research.

Activity is predominantly associated with the prefrontal cortex as the structures and functions for self-regulation are apart of high order thinking and skills which take place within these brain regions. Activity within this region is consistent throughout the entire lifespan, getting stronger as an individual reaches adulthood as the prefrontal cortex begins to fully develop.

In childhood years self-regulation is based around what is present within a child's life. They will only develop skills they have exposure to and learn regulation on a needs basis. Adolescence brings in the mental health aspects of self-regulation and focuses on combatting the internal and cognitive aspects that begin to arise as the brain significant change throughout this period. Finally throughout the adult years self-regulation is geared towards deeper learning and development of the skills already present. While there is stronger activity in the learning regions of the brain, it is to strengthen existing pathways, rather than creating new ones.

See also

Regulation (Wikipedia) Development across the lifespan (Wikipedia)

References

Heatherton, T. F. (2011). Neuroscience of Self and Self-Regulation. Annual Review of Psychology, 62(1), 363–390. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131616

Heatherton, T. F., & Wagner, D. D. (2011). Cognitive neuroscience of self-regulation failure. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(3), 132–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.12.005

Hertzog, C., & Dunlosky, J. (2011). Metacognition in Later Adulthood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(3), 167–173. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721411409026

Karoly, P. (1993). Mechanisms of Self-Regulation: A Systems View. Annual Review of Psychology, 44(1), 23–52. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.44.1.23

Lerner, R. M., Brindis, C. D., Batanova, M., & Blum, R. Wm. (2017). Adolescent Health Development: A Relational Developmental Systems Perspective. Handbook of Life Course Health Development, 109–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47143-3_6

Lévesque, J., Joanette, Y., Mensour, B., Beaudoin, G., Leroux, J.-M. ., Bourgouin, P., & Beauregard, M. (2004). Neural basis of emotional self-regulation in childhood. Neuroscience, 129(2), 361–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2004.07.032

van Genugten, L., Dusseldorp, E., Massey, E. K., & van Empelen, P. (2016). Effective self-regulation change techniques to promote mental wellbeing among adolescents: a meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 11(1), 53–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2016.1252934

McClelland, M. M., John Geldhof, G., Cameron, C. E., & Wanless, S. B. (2015). Development and Self-Regulation. Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science, 1(1), 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118963418.childpsy114

Montroy, J. J., Bowles, R. P., Skibbe, L. E., McClelland, M. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2016). The Development of Self-Regulation Across Early Childhood. Developmental Psychology, 52(11), 1744–1762. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000159

Nguyen, A., Grummitt, L., Barrett, E. L., Bailey, S., Gardner, L. A., Champion, K. E., Halladay, J., Maratos, F., Hunter, E., Rowlinson, K., Chapman, C., Newton, N. C., & Birrell, L. (2025). The relationship between emotion regulation and mental health in adolescents: Self-compassion as a moderator. Mental Health & Prevention, 200430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200430

Pandey, A., Hale, D., Das, S., Goddings, A.-L., Blakemore, S.-J., & Viner, R. M. (2018). Effectiveness of Universal Self-regulation-Based Interventions in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 172(6), 566–575. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0232

Posner, M. , & Rothbart, M. (2000). Developing mechanisms of self-regulation. Development and Psychopathology, 12(3), 427–441. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579400003096

Skowron, E. A., Holmes, S. E., & Sabatelli, R. M. (2003). Contemporary Family Therapy, 25(1), 111–129. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1022514306491

Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2018). Handbook of self-regulation research, theory, and applications. New York London The Guilford Press.

External links

• What is self regulation? (Youtube: Empowered to Connect)