ABSTRACT

This chapter concerns the ways in which parenting facilitates self-regulation in children. What is self-regulation? We address this question in our chapter from a motivational perspective. From such a motivational viewpoint, concern is with who or what initiates behavior. From this perspective, self-regulated behaviors are those that are initiated by the person, and include a feeling or experience of self-determination or choice. Thus, a hallmark of self-regulation is the experience of volition, of feeling that one has willingly or choicefully engaged in the behavior rather than being coerced or controlled (Deci and Ryan, 1985). In this use of the term, “self” refers not just to the physical body, but to the experiential self and actions that are perceived as one’s own.