1-178 - Mind and Matter: New Insights on the Role of Parental Executive Functions in Process Models of Parenting and Child Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

It was over two decades ago when Irving Siegal (1985) put forth the provocative notion that cognitive functioning was an essential component towards understanding parenting and child development. Since that time empirical endeavors have begun to slowly and methodically build a line of inquiry which examines Siegal’s contentions (Bugental & Johnston, 2000; Milner, 1996; Stern & Azar, 1998). Recently, interest in the field has focused on explicating the role of executive functions as determinants of parenting. The aim of the current paper symposium is to bring together leading experts in these current efforts towards presenting new empirical data which cross conceptual ‘lines’ with the ultimate objective of providing novel insights into understanding how the minds of parents may inform their parenting. Testifying to the developmental implications of this work, the papers in this symposium cover different periods from infancy, early childhood, and early adolescence. In addition, papers include a multiple levels of analysis perspective (e.g., physiological, neurological, and psychological) for understanding the role of executive function. The families in these studies range from high risk towards more normative samples, and include fathers who have not been considered previously. Towards more fully integrating a process oriented perspective in this area of inquiry, the papers in this symposium test different conceptual approaches which place parental executive functions as predictors, mediators, moderators, and outcomes in association with parenting. We will discuss the implications of our broad-based focus on the role of executive functioning for future research and clinical efforts.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Melissa L Sturge-Apple, University of Rochester

Individual Presentations

• Poverty-related strain, inter-parental conflict, and child negative reactivity as predictors of maternal EF and ER - Presenting Author: Cybele Raver, New York University; Clancy Blair, New York University

• Transmission of Risk: Maternal History of Maltreatment, Parenting, Maternal Executive Function and Infant Cognitive Development. - Presenting Author: Andrea Gonzalez, McMaster University; Leslie Atkinson; Harriet MacMillan, McMaster University

• Fathers Have “Thinking” Too: A Dissociable Approach to Mother’s and Father’s Executive Functions and Parenting During Adolescence - Presenting Author: Melissa L Sturge-Apple, University of Rochester; Patrick Davies, Univ of Rochester

• Maternal Executive Functioning and Psychophysiology: Implications for Parenting and Child Development - Presenting Author: Kirby Deater-Deckard, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Tech