Attentional Shifting Mediates the Relationship Between Parenting and Working Memory

• In Event: Attention and memory in infants and children

Abstract

An increasing number of studies have investigated the association between parenting and executive functions (EF) in early childhood (e.g., Baptista et al., 2017; Bernier et al., 2010; Daneri et al., 2019; Distefano et al., 2018; Merz et al., 2017). Yet fewer studies have examined the pathways that carry the impacts of parenting on children’s working memory (Fay‐Stammbach et al., 2014; Matte-Gagné & Bernier, 2011). This study aims to investigate the mediating role of children’s attention in the association between parenting and working memory. It is worth noting that, in adults, attention is closely associated with working memory (e.g., Kane & Engle, 2000, 2002, 2003). Engle (2002) suggested that individual differences in working memory reflect differences in attentional control. We know less, however, about how attention is related to working memory in young children. Yet, research shows that more mature pattern of attention (i.e., more rapid, selective and adaptive attention responses) in early development has meaningful implications for working memory development (Ross-Sheehy, Reynolds, & Eschman, 2020). Thus, more studies are needed to investigate how attention is related to working memory in early childhood (Garon et al., 2008).

This study analyzed data from the Family Life Project. The goal was to examine whether attention was a pathway through which parenting predicted working memory. The Family Life Project followed 1,292 children from birth to 36 months. Parenting quality was measured during a 10-min parent-child interaction at 6, 15, 24 and 36 months. Parental sensitivity, intrusiveness, detachment, stimulation of development, positive regard, negative regard and animation in interacting were rated by experimenter on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being not at all characteristic and 5 being highly characteristic. Ratings for each participant were averaged and a composite score of parenting was analyzed. Children’s attentional focusing and attentional shifting were measured from the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. Verbal working memory was measured with the Backward Word Span task at 36 months. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling in Mplus 8. A nonparametric resampling method (bias-corrected bootstrap) with 1000 resamples was drawn to derive the 95% CIs for the indirect effect of parenting on verbal working memory through attention. Results showed that better parenting at 6 months predicted better attentional shifting at 24 months, which, in turn, predicted greater verbal working memory at 36 months, 95% CI [0.003, 0.03]. Greater parenting at 15 months predicted greater verbal working memory at 36 months, unstandardized coefficient = 0.18, SE = 0.063, p =.004. This study provided evidence that attentional shifting mediated the association between parenting and verbal working memory. The findings also corroborated the importance of warm, sensitive and cognitively stimulating parenting early in life for a child’s cognitive development.

Authors

• Yinbo Wu, Florida International University
  Presenting Author

• Anne R Schutte, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author