Poster #11 - Teacher-child Relationships and Executive Function Skills: Examining Externalizing Behavior Problems as a Moderator

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Attention, Learning, Memory

Integrative Statement

Children with externalizing behavior problems (EBP), including aggression, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattention, are at-risk for school failure, in part due to deficits in their executive functioning (EF) skills (Schoemaker et al., 2012). EF skills, including sustained attention and inhibitory control, serve to optimize children’s behavior and goal-directed activity in school settings and have consistently been related to school success (e.g., Blair & Razza, 2007). Children with EBP are more likely to have EF deficits and children with both (EBP and EF) have significantly lower academic achievement and are more likely to repeat a grade compared to children with EBP alone (Biederman et al., 2004). Thus, efforts to ensure competence in EF skills for EBP children are of critical importance.

For children who exhibit EBP, positive teacher-child relationships serve as a protective factor for future maladaptive outcomes. For example, when teachers describe their relationships with children as warm and close, children develop better emotion regulation skills and display less aggression (Baker, et al., 2008; Shields et al., 2001). Conversely, negative teacher-child relationships result in later behavior problems (Doumen et al., 2008). Given the importance of teacher-child relationships for children with EBP, it is possible that positive teacher-child relationships may also serve as a protective factor for children’s EF skills.

Although teacher-child relationships and EF are not often linked, there is evidence in the parenting literature to suggest that parent-child relationships characterized by warmth and responsiveness foreshadow executive functions among children (e.g., Belsky et al., 2007). Especially notable are findings of an intervention study showing increases in supportive and responsive parenting lead to improvements in EF related skills (Brody et al., 2005). Similarly, warm and responsive relationships with teachers likely benefit all children, however we hypothesized that positive teacher-child relationships would be particularly important for children with EBP who are more likely to show deficits in EF skills.

The current study utilized data from the NICHD longitudinal Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). Multiple regression models examined the relation between positive teacher-child relationships (Student-Teacher Relationship Scale; Pianta, 2001) on gains in children’s executive function skills (i.e., sustained attention and inhibitory control; Continuous Performance Test; Mirsky et al., 1991) for a sample of first grade children who were typically developing (n = 822) or who fell in to the borderline to clinical range of externalizing behavior (n = 111; Child Behavior Checklist; Achenbach, 1991).

Results indicated that EBP significantly moderated the relation between teacher-child relationships and residualized EF gains. Positive teacher-child relationships were related to an increase in sustained attention for typically developing children (β = 0.09, p < .05). This association was not present for children with EBP (β = -0.10, p > .05; Figure 1). Follow-up analyses examining teacher-child relationships for children with EBP revealed significant negative relations between closeness (not conflict) and sustained attention (β = -0.28, p < .05) and inhibitory control (β = -0.23, p < .04). Implications of the counterintuitive findings for children with EBP will be discussed.

Authors

• Priscilla Goble, Texas State University
  Presenting Author

• Sarah M. Blalock, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cambrian Mae Nauman, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katelyn Fife, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author