The Influence of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Executive Function on Parenting and Toddlers’ Language Skills

• In Event: Parental, Home,and Early Education Predictors of Children's Executive Function:Evidence From Three Countries

Abstract

Introduction: Executive function (EF), an aspect of parents’ cognitions, is thought to be particularly important for parenting (Bornstein, 2015). Studies have shown that maternal EF is related to parenting quality and children’s social and cognitive outcomes (Sturge-Apple, Jones, & Suor, 2017). These studies are few and are mostly conducted with mothers raising the question of whether paternal EF also affects children in the same way as maternal EF. We address these gaps by examining the role of mothers’ and fathers’ EF in a sample of low-income, first time parents and their infants.
Hypotheses: We test the following hypotheses: (1) High levels of mothers’ and fathers’ EF will predict increased engagement in positive parenting practices; (2) Mothers and fathers EF will positively predict infants’ language skills; and (3) Engagement in positive parenting practices will mediate the effect of mothers and fathers EF on child language skills at 18 months.
Study Population: This study uses data from Baby Books 2, a parenting intervention designed for first-time, low-income parents with 9-month-old infants. The sample consists predominately of ethnic minority and immigrant families (Table 1).
Methods: Data are collected when children are 9- and 12-months of age (anticipated N = 200). For parents, data are collected on both mothers’ and fathers’ EF, using the Hearts & Flowers task (Davidson, Amso, Anderson, & Diamond, 2006), and self-reports of engagement in positive parenting activities (ECLS-B) when children are 9-months of age. For children, language skills are assessed at 9-months of age using the PLS-4 (Zimmerman, Pond, & Steiner, 2002).
Results: Preliminary regression analyses (Table 2) showed that fathers’ EF was predictive of children’s language skills, while mothers’ EF was not. Additionally, engagement in cognitive stimulation activities did not mediate the effect on child outcomes. For fathers, the effect of EF on child language remained strong, even when considering the significant effect of their cognitive stimulation activities. Future analyses will examine whether engagement in caregiving activities and mediate the effect of parents’ EF on their children’s language skills.
Discussion: We anticipate that our final results will demonstrate the importance of mothers’ and fathers’ EF for both parenting and child development. These results would have substantial implications for parenting interventions and efforts to improve children’s outcomes. Programs and interventions should consider the cognitive abilities of parents as they may be an important factor influencing parenting skills and children’s language development.

Authors

• Kelsey McKee, Office of Head Start
  Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author