3-131 - The development of executive function and academic skills in the context of poverty: New perspectives on an old question

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

As children make the transition into elementary school, differences in important cognitive and academic skills as a function of socioeconomic status become increasingly apparent. Given growing evidence for the importance of early academic skills for later school success, researchers have sought to understand the ways in which early contextual factors associated with poverty shape children’s cognitive development, often focusing on role that the development of executive functions (EF) and self-regulation play in the relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement.

Building on multi-method approaches to assessing children’s EF and regulation (e.g., behavioral, physiological, parent report) and SES, the four lines of research represented in this symposium reflect new perspectives on the complex associations between SES and cognitive development. In the first presentation, the implications of the timing of poverty for children’s EF development will be described. The unique developmental patterns of low-income children who are also English language learners will be outlined in the second presentation, followed by an exploration of interplay between physiological regulation and SES as they relate to children’s EF and academic outcomes. Finally, the long-term implications of early EF skills for children’s later academic success will be examined using a national dataset. In addition to these findings, speakers will also address issues related to the measurement of both EF and SES – and the implications of measurement for our understanding of the impact of poverty on cognitive development.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chairs

• Jennie K Grammer, University of California, Los Angeles

• Kelly M Purtell, Ohio State University

Individual Presentations

• Timing of early childhood poverty and kindergarteners’ executive functioning - Presenting Author: Kelly M Purtell, Ohio State University; Jennie K Grammer, University of California, Los Angeles; Jennifer Lynne Coffman, Univ of North Carolina-CH

• Executive function and academic achievement: A focus on low-income English Language Learners and their English speaking peers - Presenting Author: Guadalupe Diaz, Oregon State University; Karley Lewis, Oregon State University; Alicia Miao, Oregon State University; Megan M McClelland, Oregon State University

• The influence of early vagal functioning on the relation between cumulative risk and cognitive outcomes in young children - Presenting Author: Jennifer Lynne Coffman, Univ of North Carolina-CH; Cathi B Propper, Center for Developmental Science- UNC-Chapel Hill; Hanna Catharina Gustafsson, Columbia University

• The longitudinal relations of executive functioning skills for children in poverty - Presenting Author: Sandra Tang, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Pamela Davis-Kean, University of Michigan