The findings regarding relations of EC to internalizing problems are somewhat more complex. Some investigators have found that EC is inversely related to internalizing problems (Eisenberg et al., 2001, 2007; Lengua, 2006; Muris, 2006; Muris, de Jong, & Engelen, 2004; Oldehinkel et al., 2007; also see Zeman, Shipman, & Suveg, 2002), whereas others have not (Oosterlaan, Logan, & Sergeant, 1998, for inhibitory control; also see Rydell et al, 2003). In a study of preschool children, Murray and Kochanska (2002) found a positive relation between EC and children’s internalizing symptoms, although they did not differentiate between EC and impulsivity. With the sample in the present study, Eisenberg, Sadovsky, et al. (2005) found that attentional EC was negatively related to pure internalizing problems from approximately age 5 to age 7, but not 2 years later. Thus, it is important to examine which aspects of EC, if any, are related to children’s internalizing problems and whether the relation changes with development. It is also possible that relations of EC with internalizing problems depend on their duration and stability, with more persistent problems being associated with more obvious deficits in EC.
