Paternal Mind-Mindedness and Child Executive Functioning in the Kindergarten Classroom

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Growing research shows that parent‒child relationships are important for child executive functioning (EF; Valcan et al., 2018), a set of higher-order cognitive processes serving the conscious, goal-directed control of thought, emotion, and behavior (Zelazo & Carlson, 2012). However, few studies have included fathers, and even fewer have examined mind-mindedness (MM; caregivers’ tendency to consider their child as an individual with a mind of his/her own; Meins, 1997), an aspect of parental behavior that is gaining increasing attention in developmental research. Tackling these gaps, the aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the role of paternal MM in early toddlerhood in the prediction of child EF as manifested in the kindergarten classroom, controlling for socioeconomic status, child prenatal risk, and importantly mother‒child attachment security, a robust predictor of child EF. We focused on ecological aspects of child EF as manifested in real-life settings, as such EF manifestations are predictive of children’s school achievement (Gerst et al., 2017).

108 families (49 boys, 59 girls) drawn from a community sample participated in three toddlerhood visits and a kindergarten visit. Mother‒child attachment security was assessed at 15 months and 2 years using the Attachment Behavior Q-Sort (Waters, 1995) based on observations conducted throughout 1.5-hour home visits. Inter-rater agreement was satisfactory at both time points, ICC = .71 and .70. The 15-month and 2-year attachment security scores were averaged to obtain a more robust indicator. Paternal MM was assessed with the Meins et al. (2001) coding system at 18 months based on a 10-min father–toddler free play sequence, also with good inter-rater agreement (ICC = .83). Finally, child EF problems were reported almost 5 years later by the children’s kindergarten teachers using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool version (BRIEF-P; Gioia et al., 2003). We used the three index scores (Self-Control, Flexibility, Metacognition) and the Global Executive Composite (GEC) as EF indicators. Higher scores indicate more EF problems.

Table 1 presents the correlations between study variables. Next, data were submitted to hierarchical regression analyses. Each BRIEF-P outcome was regressed on covariates (SES, prenatal risk; block 1), mother‒child attachment security (block 2), and paternal MM (block 3). Over and above the covariates and mother‒child attachment security, paternal mind-mindedness predicted unique additional variance in Flexibility (β = -.26, p = .018), Metacognition (β = -.27, p = .012), and the GEC (β = -.28, p = .014), and made a marginal contribution to the prediction of Self-Control (β = -.22, p = .062).

These findings indicate that toddlers who were exposed to more mind-related comments while playing with their father were later considered by their teachers to present fewer EF problems in everyday school situations. Importantly, results held above mother–child attachment security, socioeconomic status, and prenatal risk. Consistent with nascent literature (e.g., Bernier et al., 2017), this study underscores the relevance of MM for child cognitive development while extending emerging research on the importance of fathers, as well as mothers, for child EF (Hertz et al., 2019).

Authors

• Sophie Regueiro, University of Montreal
  Presenting Author

• Célia Matte-Gagné, Laval University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Annie Bernier, University of Montreal
  Non-Presenting Author