Examining the Effects of the Family Check Up Intervention on Children’s Effortful Control and Executive Functions

• In Event: When, for Whom, and why? Disentangling the Relations Between Positive Parenting and School Readiness

Abstract

Positive parent-child interactions (e.g., warmth, scaffolding) in early childhood are essential to promoting children’s healthy developmental trajectories. These early social experiences are particularly important in shaping children’s self-regulatory skills including effortful control (suppressing automatic responses and adapting to contextual demands), and executive functions (neurocognitive processes influencing one’s thoughts and emotions in goal-directed behaviours). These skills can influence children’s socioemotional functioning, academic success and prevent adverse outcomes in adulthood. Thus, improving factors, such as parent-child interactions, that influence children’s self-regulatory skills is pertinent. The Family Check-Up (FCU) is an evidence-based intervention targeting families with children experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties. It involves an ecological multi-modal assessment, motivational interviewing, and feedback specifically tailored to each family with an optional tailored parenting curriculum. While studies have demonstrated positive effects of the FCU intervention on numerous child outcomes, few have investigated its direct effects on young children’s effortful control and executive functions or possible sex differences in its effect.
We conducted a community-based randomized controlled trial of the FCU intervention with families randomized to the FCU intervention or a community control group. At 12 months post-baseline, children’s effortful control was measured via a 13-item parent report and their executive functions were assessed via performance-based tasks. Using structural equation modelling, we examined the direct effect of the FCU intervention on children’s effortful control and a latent construct of executive function tasks as well as the moderating effect of child sex.
Our sample included 206 families (Mage of child = 4.4 years old, SD = .86, range = 3.1-6.2 years old, 57.3% males). There were no significant effects of condition (β = 0.09, 95% CI [-.15, .34]), sex of the child (β = 0.03, 95% CI [-.24, .31]) or the interaction between condition and child sex (β = -.01, 95% CI [-.28, .26]) on children's executive functions. However, there was a significant effect of condition on children's effortful control (β = 0.20, 95% CI [.01, .40]), such that parents in the intervention group reported higher effortful control scores for their children as compared to the control group. There were no significant effects of child sex (β = 0.07, 95% CI [-.13, .27]), or the interaction between condition and child sex (β = -0.11, 95% CI [-.35, .13]) on children’s effortful control.
These findings demonstrate small but significant effects of the FCU intervention on children’s effortful control, but not executive functions. Further, no sex differences were found for either outcome. It is possible, given the protracted development of executive functions, that the effects of the positive parenting intervention may not be evident until later childhood. Additionally, the different measurement approaches (e.g., parent report vs performance-based tasks) used to assess children’s effortful control and executive functions could have also contributed to the intervention’s differential effects. Overall, our study shows the importance of providing early support, tools and resources to families in promoting children’s healthy self-regulation. However, consideration of measurement approach and timing effects in evaluating intervention effectiveness is important for future research.

Authors

• Krysta Andrews, McMaster University
  Presenting Author

• Marc Jambon, Wilfrid Laurier University

• Julie Gross, McMaster University

• Heather P Prime, York University

• Andrea Gonzalez, McMaster University

• Terry Bennett, McMaster University