Poster #135 - Delineating how Maternal Executive Functions Impact Discipline Strategies: Implications for Children’s School Readiness

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Research over the last twenty years has shown that parenting is a cognitively demanding task, and emerging conceptual frameworks have turned to executive functions as a potential explanatory variable in determinants of parenting research (Crandall et al., 2015). The present study focuses on two primary domains of the executive suite: inhibitory control, which plays a critical role in an individual’s ability to self-regulate in challenging situations (Barkley, 1997; Posner & Rothbart, 2007) and set-shifting, which includes changing perspectives and adjusting thoughts or behaviors in response to changing demands (Miyake et al., 2000; Diamond, 2013). Currently, there is a dearth of literature examining specifically how executive functions predict different caregiving practices within discipline contexts. These cognitive processes may be especially important within a discipline framework, as they have the potential to facilitate more constructive practices and inhibit more harsh, reactive forms of discipline. Towards increasing our understanding, the present study examined how maternal inhibitory control and set-shifting impact the use of two specific discipline practices (harsh discipline and scaffolding discipline).
Maternal discipline practices in turn have implications for young children’s adjustment, specifically as they transition to school settings where self-regulation becomes an increasingly stage-salient task. To further our understanding, the current study examined how specific maternal discipline practices impact children’s school adjustment (peer relations, school engagement, and the teacher-child relationship) during the early elementary school years.

Sample: Data was collected from 243 mothers and their 5 year-old children. 48% of mothers identified as African American, 43% as White, and 6% as Multiracial. 16% of the mothers identified as were Hispanic.

Method: Observational ratings of maternal discipline were completed when children were 5 years old using the Caregiving Across Discipline System (CADS; Sturge-Apple & Jones-Goridls, 2017). Maternal inhibitory control was assessed using a go/no-go paradigm (Sturge-Apple et al., 2015) and set-shifting was assessed using the Trail Making Test (Strauss et al. 2006). Children’s school adjustment was assessed via the teacher version of The MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ; Armstrong, Goldstein, & The MacArthur Working Group on Outcome Assessment, 2003).

Results: Path models were estimated using the full-information maximum likelihood method (FIML) through the MPLUS statistical software (Muthén & Muthén, 2008). The model evidenced acceptable fit. Analyses revealed that maternal inhibitory control was associated with greater use of scaffolding discipline, which was in turn related to higher levels of children’s school engagement and more positive teacher-child relationships (Table 1; Figure 1). These results suggest that inhibitory control may be an important cognitive process that allows parents to facilitate constructive discipline scenarios for their children. Additionally, engaging in problem solving in the home may better prepare children for academic settings.

Conclusion: We will discuss the implications of executive functions in process models of maternal discipline, and the implications this has for children’s school readiness outcomes.

Authors

• Hannah Jones-Gordils, University of Rochester
  Presenting Author

• Melissa Sturge-Apple, University of Rochester
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patrick Davies, University of Rochester
  Non-Presenting Author