Self-speech and self-regulation of high- and low-anxious children in the dental situation: An interview study

Assessed 40 8-12 yr old children's self-speech and self-regulation during a dental visit. Ss, who were interviewed individually in the dental clinic, included 20 children with high, phobiclike dental fear and 20 with low dental fear. Results show that two-thirds of Ss, equally distributed over the high- and low-anxious categories, reported self-speech. High dental fear was related to a specific type of self-speech, while low dental fear was not. Less than one-half of Ss reported self-regulation. Level of fear was neither related to the occurrence nor the nature of the self-regulation. The self-regulation that Ss reported was not of the complex variety as described in various theoretical models. It is concluded that, for most children, self-regulation in the dental situation is an isolated controlling response, which is not integrated in a behavioral plan. Most children's behavior in the dental situation is mainly controlled by external contingencies and to a lesser extent by their own rules or plans. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record