Poster #92 - Executive Functions in the Preschool Years: The Importance of Maternal Scaffolding in Low-Income Families

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Executive functions (EF) refer to a set of deliberate, goal directed neurocognitive processes involved in self-regulation (Zalazo & Carlson, 2012). Since EF are largely assumed by the prefrontal cortex, a brain area that shows prolonged postnatal development, multiple environmental experiences can influence EF development (Kolb et al., 2012). An environmental factor that has been identified as having a positive influence on EF is parental scaffolding (for a review, Fay-Stammbach et al., 2014). Another environmental variable identified as being linked to EF is socioeconomic status (SES). Children from disadvantaged families tend to perform worse on EF tasks (Clark et al., 2015; Hackman et al., 2015). One study with a normative sample found that higher-quality maternal behavior was predictive of better impulse control only among children from lower-SES families (Rochette & Bernier, 2014). To our knowledge, no study has examined the moderating role of socio-demographic risk in the association between maternal scaffolding and EF among low-income families.

The aims of this study were: 1) to examine the links between maternal scaffolding and preschool children’s EF and 2) to evaluate the moderating role of sociodemographic risk in this association in a low-income sample (family income <30 000$). Participants were 105 preschoolers (M = 59.31 months; 49 boys) and their mothers. The socio-demographic risk index (ranging from 0 to 4) was computed based on the presence of the following factors: teenage motherhood, mother with no high-school diploma, receiving social welfare, and single-parent status. Maternal scaffolding was measured during a mother-child joint planning task (Grocery Store Task; Gauvain & Rogoff, 1989) and quality of maternal scaffolding was rated on a 7-point scale ranging from low (1) to optimal (7) quality. EF were measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P; Gioia et al., 2003), which was completed by the child’s preschool teacher.

Results showed positive correlations between maternal scaffolding and child’s EF, but no significant links were found between sociodemographic risk and EF (see Table 1). Regression analysis predicting EF from maternal scaffolding and sociodemographic risk showed a significant effect of scaffolding, indicating that higher quality of maternal scaffolding was associated with greater child’s EF. The analysis also revealed a significant interaction effect of maternal scaffolding X sociodemographic risk (see Table 2). Simple effects were examined by conducting two distinct regression analyses, one for low-risk families (sociodemographic risk ranging from 0 to 2; n = 78) and one for high-risk families (sociodemographic risk ranging from 3 to 4; n = 27). When sociodemographic risk was low, maternal scaffolding did not predict child’s EF ΔR2 = .03, ΔF(1,76) = 2.70, β = -.18, ns. When sociodemographic risk was high, maternal scaffolding predicted child’s EF ΔR2 = .37, ΔF(1,25) = 14.78, β = -.61, p < .01. Results showed that in a high-risk context, but not in a low-risk one, better maternal scaffolding was linked with greater EF. This study suggests that the role of maternal scaffolding in the development of child’s executive function is more important when sociodemographic risk is higher.

Authors

• Abigaëlle Gascon, UQTR
  Presenting Author

• Diane St-Laurent, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres
  Non-Presenting Author

• Angélique Paquette, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kalie Charest, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tristan Milot, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
  Non-Presenting Author