The Diagnostics of Self-Regulation in Preschool Age

Self-regulation is considered an essential requirement for a successful school entry. Nevertheless, there are only few instruments available in German to diagnose self-regulation in preschool-age for the use in developmental diagnostics in kindergarten or school enrolment examinations.This article gives an overview of instruments (1) that are available in German and for which (2) there are norms or cut-offs in the age range between 3 and 6 years. We discovered 12 questionnaires, 3 observation procedures, and 26 performance tests for the diagnostics of self-regulation and provide an overview of the psychometric properties of these instruments. In summary, subtests or subscales from established instruments can be used to estimate self-regulation, but there is a lack of differentiated questionnaires and especially test batteries to objectively, reliably, and validly measure self-regulation.