Poster #100 - The Link Between Triadic Family Interactions and Preschoolers Executive Functions

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

"Executive Functions" (EF) refer to deliberate, high order cognitive processes that are involved in the conscious and goal-directed control of thought, action and emotion. These functions are inherent to self-regulation and it is therefore of great importance to examine the factors that contribute to their development. While there is growing knowledge regarding parental behaviors that contribute to EF, research to date has focused solely on dyadic interactions between children and their parents. Because both theory and research highlight triadic family interactions as significant contexts that contribute to the child’s development beyond the dyadic parent-child context, the purpose of the current study was to examine the contribution of triadic interactions to the development of the child’s EF.
We observed the degree of cooperation and reciprocity in the family triad using the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP) procedure, an observational procedure that focuses on the triad as a whole and on the way the family members cooperate with one another and coordinate their interactions in keeping with their roles and in order to establish well-tuned and enjoyable family interactions (Fivaz-Depeursinge & Corboz-Warnery, 1999). Family cooperation and coordination require children's self-regulation and in turn promote such regulation, and we therefore expected to find links between the LTP and children’s EF. Accordingly, we hypothesized that higher family cooperation and child involvement in the LTP would be associated with higher levels of EF.
Seventy 57 months old children and their parents were observed in the LTP and the level of family cooperation and coordination as well as children's involvement were coded using the Family Alliance Assessment Scale (FAAS; Lavanchy-Scaiola, Favez, Tissot, & Franscarolo, 2008). Children’s EF were assessed using The Bear and Dragon task (Reed, Pien & Rothbart, 1984) and the Dimensional Change Card Sort task (Zelazo, 2006), together with parents reporting of Effortful Control (Rothbart & Bates, 2006).
The study’s hypothesis received partial support: Among girls, there was a significant association between family cooperation and girls' involvement in the triadic interaction and their EF. Among boys no such associations were found. In addition, the associations were found only with parental reports regarding children’s Effortful Control (EC) and not with the child EF measures.
The results provide partial support for the hypothesis regarding the contribution of triadic family interactions to children's EF. The lack of findings with regard to the child EF measures may be due to an unexpected celling effect in these measures resulting in a restricted range. Future studies should use more difficult EF tasks appropriate to this age. Also, the support found only for girls may be related to the higher level of EC we found for girls compared to boys, consistent with prior studies. It may be that with development, as boys EC matures, the links with family interactions will emerge. Also, because the girls in our study had slightly higher involvement ratings in the LTP, it is possible they were also more influenced by family interactions.

Authors

• Michal Slonim, University of Haifa
  Presenting Author

• Shira Yuval Adler, University of Haifa
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Oppenheim, University of Haifa
  Non-Presenting Author