Comparing Working Memory of Children Living in Urban and Rural Poverty

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Attention, Learning, Memory

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is a component of executive function (EF), and it is associated with keeping and manipulating information in mind during complex tasks. Existing evidence suggest that both biological (e.g. genetic) and environmental factors (e.g. family SES, parenting, home quality, and children’s language skills) contribute to the development of EF, and poverty poses a risk for children’s EF development. The aim of the present study was to test whether urban and rural poverty differentially effect children’s EF skills. Consequently, current study examined the effects of urban and rural poverty on children’s WM in relation to parenting, home quality (stimulation and chaos), neighborhood quality, receptive vocabulary, and child temperament.
Participants were 241 children and their mothers living in urban and rural regions of Turkey (N = 241; 124 urban, 117 rural). Children’s ages ranged between 49 and 78 months. Families were below the poverty line. The variables for poverty, home and neighborhood quality, parenting, and temperament were measured via scales. Children visuospatial WM was assessed through Corsi Block Tapping (CBT) task, verbal WM was assessed via Forward and Backward Digit Span (FDS and BDS) tasks, and receptive vocabulary was assessed via Turkish Expressive and Receptive Language Test.
First, one-way ANCOVA was conducted to compare urban and rural poverty in terms of children’s WM skills after controlling for age and the duration of attending kindergarten. Children’s age and duration of kindergarten were significantly related to children’s WM (p < .05). There was a trend indicating that children living in urban regions were better in CBT and BDS tasks (p = .07, p = .08, respectively).
Furthermore, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that children with improved receptive vocabulary and higher perceptual sensitivity performed better in all EF tasks. Additionally, older children and children who attended kindergarten for longer durations showed better performance in CBT and BDS tasks. Unexpectedly, higher levels of poverty were related to better performance in FDS task. Additionally, positive parenting interacted with urban-rural poverty predicting children’s performance in BDS task. That is, children living in urban poverty had higher scores in the BDS task if their mothers displayed higher levels of positive parenting; whereas, they had lower scores if their mothers displayed low levels of positive parenting. On the other hand, the scores of children living in rural poverty were not influenced by the levels of their mothers’ positive parenting behaviors.
The current study indicated that positive parenting was important for children’s WM skills in urban poverty. The findings have implications for further research reporting that certain contextual factors might be important for certain EF skills in different contexts.

Authors

• Sükran Okur, Cukurova University
  Presenting Author

• Sibel KazakBerument, Middle East Technical University
  Non-Presenting Author