Examination of Moderating Effects of Inhibitory Control between Children’s English Vocabulary Skills and Problem Behaviors

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - School Readiness/Childcare

Abstract

In Head Start (HS), a health and educational service for predominantly low-income families, 29% of the HS population are dual language learners (DLLs), who are learning both their home language and English (U.S. DHHS, 2013). A majority group of DLLs is Spanish-speaking DLLs, who comprise 84% of the DLL population in HS (U.S. DHHS, 2013). While some studies have shown that DLLs present less behavioral problems than their English monolingual peers (Halle et al., 2014; McDermott et al., 2019), it has also been acknowledged that DLLs may display challenging behaviors, such as withdrawn or defiant behaviors, due to linguistic difficulties in preschools, where the primary language of interaction is English (Nemeth & Brillante, 2011).
This study examined whether preschoolers’ English skills are associated with their problem behaviors and whether the associations are moderated by inhibitory control (IC), a skill relating to controlling attention or actions and socio-emotional skills (Carlson & Wang, 2007). We also compared this moderation effect of IC between English monolinguals and Spanish-English DLLs. The following questions were investigated.
1. Are English and IC skills at HS-exit related to problem behaviors in kindergarten?
2. Are there interaction effects between English and IC skills at HS-exit in predicting problem behaviors in kindergarten?
3. Do the interaction effects above differ between English monolinguals and Spanish-English DLLs?

Methods
Participants
We used the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2009 (FACES 2009) data, focusing on children who entered HS at age three and their language use at home (N = 534).
DLL status
Based on parents’ reports on home language use, children were identified as English monolinguals (n = 368) or Spanish-English DLLs (n = 166).
Measures
English receptive vocabulary skills were assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-4; Dunn et al., 2006). IC was examined utilizing a pencil tapping task, the edited version of a peg-tapping task (Diamond & Taylor, 1996). Items from the Behavior Problems Index (Peterson & Zill, 1986) and a short version of the Personal Maturity Scale (Entwisle et al., 1987) were used to capture problem behaviors encompassing aggressive, hyperactive, and withdrawn behaviors.
Analysis
Multilevel modeling was employed in Stata, considering the multi-stages approach used in the sampling of FACES 2009. List-wise deletion was used to handle missing data. We will analyze again after applying Multiple Imputation (MI) to improve statistical power and present the findings.

Preliminary Results
Preliminary findings showed that children with higher English or IC skills presented lower problem behaviors (b = -.05 and b = -.20, p < .05, respectively). No significant moderation effect of IC was found on the association between English skills and behavioral problems. Although this non-significant moderation effect was not significantly different between Spanish-English DLLs and English monolinguals, the visual presentation showed that higher English skills predicted lower behavioral problems for DLLs with lower (-1.5 SD) IC skills (Figure 1).

Conclusion and Implication
This study indicates the potential importance of English and IC skills on children’s subsequent behavioral functioning. Additional implications will be discussed upon finalizing results.

Authors

• Dahyung Ryu, Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Ji Young Choi, Iowa State University
  Non-Presenting Author