Peers Matter: Links Between Classmates' and Individual Students' Executive Functions in Elementary School

• In Event: 79.018 - The Role of Peers and Social Networks in Human Development

Abstract

Students’ executive functions (EFs) are linked to their academic and social success. Although school-age children spend much of their time interacting with peers, few studies have explored how children’s classmates promote EF development in elementary school. In this study, we test whether classmates’ EFs are associated with growth in individual students’ accuracy and speed on EF tasks in third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders. We find that classmates’ average speed on EF tasks is associated with improvements in individual students’ speed. Further, students in classrooms with more variability in speed demonstrated increased EF growth. In contrast, classmates’ accuracy on EF tasks was not associated with individual students’ EF growth. Our results highlight the role of peers for EF development in middle childhood.

Authors

• Jenna Elizabeth Finch, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Elisa B. Garcia, SRI International

• Michael J. Sulik, Stanford University

• Jelena Obradović, Stanford University