3-242 - Two-Generation Approaches to Intervention in Early Childhood

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

We urgently need effective, evidence-based interventions to support families living in disadvantaged circumstances due to poverty, trauma, chaos, and/or toxic stress (Shonkoff & Fisher, 2013). Executive function (EF) skills are recognized as a foundational aspect of development that can mediate the impact of social risks (Nesbitt, 2013) and are thus often the target of child-focused interventions (Blair & Diamond, 2008). Responsive caregiving relationships are critical for fostering children’s EF development (Bernier, 2014). Parents’ own EF skills also shape their capacity to engage in responsive caregiving (Deater-Deckard, 2014). Yet, interventions seeking to improve child EF have typically failed to address parent EF. Furthermore, even fewer interventions have attempted to change both parent and child EF. This symposium brings together formative research of two-generation programs that address both parent and child EF, highlighting the role that parent EF can play in promoting responsive caregiving and sustained effective parenting.
The first talk will present results of an intervention focused on promoting high-quality parent-child interaction during daily structured routines with the goal to improve parent and child EF. The second presents Mind in the Making, Vroom and Circle Time Games, interventions targeting parent and child EF skills to improve parent, child, and classroom outcomes. The third presents associations between parent EF, family routines, and feeding practices, with implications for parent-focused childhood obesity prevention efforts. Our discussant will address how two-generation approaches have the potential to advance understanding of developmental mechanisms and reduce intergenerational transmission of inequity, and considerations when taking such interventions to scale.

Sub Unit

• Prevention and Interventions

Chair

• Andrei Semenov, University of Minnesota

Discussant

• Philip Fisher, University of Oregon

Individual Presentations

• Family Routines: A Two-Generation Approach to Improving Parent-Child-Relationships and Executive Function Skills - Presenting Author: Andrei Semenov, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Lori Levine, Acelero Learning; Non-Presenting Author: Anna Henderson, Westside Infant-Family Network; Non-Presenting Author: Philip David Zelazo, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

• Mind in the Making, VROOM, and Circle-Time Games: Improving Executive Function, Parenting, and Classroom Quality - Presenting Author: Ellen Galinsky, Bezos Foundation; Non-Presenting Author: Rebecca Linnea Distefano, University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Non-Presenting Author: Alicia Miao, SRCD Post-doctoral State Policy Fellow, Early Learning Division, Oregon Department of Education, Oregon State University; Non-Presenting Author: Megan McClelland, Oregon State University; Non-Presenting Author: Philip David Zelazo, University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie M. Carlson, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

• Maternal Executive Function, Family Routines, and Feeding Practices: Implications for Obesity Prevention - Presenting Author: Katherine Bauer, University of Michigan, School of Public Health; Non-Presenting Author: Alison L. Miller, University of Michigan School of Public Health; Non-Presenting Author: Jess Haines, University of Guelph; Non-Presenting Author: Julie Lumeng, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Ashley N Gearhardt, University of Michigan