From Noncompliance to Discipline: Inhibitory Control Relates to Children's Rule-Breaking Behaviors

Children’s age and executive functioning have previously been negatively associated with noncompliant behavior. Here, 496 participants (Mage = 7.21) were given opportunities to violate rules. A negative relationship between age and rule-breaking, mediated by inhibitory control, was found, deepening prior understandings of the relationships between age, inhibitory control, and cheating.