Maternal Executive Function (EF) as a Predictor of Parenting Practices and Children’s EF

• In Event: 3-180 - Cognition and Parenting in Low-Income Families

Integrative Statement

Introduction. The development of executive function (EF) is important for children’s school readiness and academic achievement (Best et al., 2011). The home environment and parenting practices have been identified as important predictors of the development of children’s EF (Blair et al., 2011). There is an emerging line of research showing that parents’ own EF is linked to their caregiving behaviors (e.g., harsh parenting; Deater-Deckard & Bell, 2017) and children’s EF (Cuevas et al., 2014). However, researchers have yet to explore the extent to which parental EF is related to specific practices in the home that may be supportive of children’s EF (e.g., playing concentration games). The primary aims of the current study are to examine the extent to which 1) maternal EF is associated with general parenting practices as well as EF-specific practices in the home, and 2) maternal EF is related to children’s EF.
Study population. Participants were 201 preschool children and one of their parents from 16 community-based preschools and Head Start centers (see Table 1). Children ranged in age from 36 to 72 months (M=51.22, SD=7.76). The majority (84.1%) of the participants were Caucasian, 3.0% African American, 2.5% Hispanic, 1.5% Asian, 8.5% Multiracial, and .5% were not reported. Education levels of parents ranged from some high school to doctoral-postgraduate degree.
Methods. Maternal EF was measured using the Adult Temperament Questionnaire-Short Form, inhibitory control and attentional focusing scales (ATQ; Rothbart et al., 2000). Two direct assessments (Card Sorting Task, Zelazo, 2006; Sun-Moon task, Archibald & Kerns, 1999) and one parent-report (Children’s Behavior Questionnaire-Short Form, inhibitory control and attentional focusing scales, CBQ-SF; Putnam & Rothbart, 2006) were used to measure children’s EF. Scores from each measure were standardized and averaged to form a composite EF z-score. EF-specific activities in the home were measured using the Home EF Environment (HEFE) scale (Korucu et al., 2018). General parenting practices were measured using items derived from the Parenting Practices Questionnaire (Robinson et al., 1996) and Parent Behavior Inventory (Lovejoy et al., 1999) using Landry and Smith’s (2010) four parenting dimensions (i.e., scaffolding, stimulation, sensitivity-responsivity, and control-discipline).
Results. To examine how maternal EF is associated with parenting practices, the HEFE, and children’s EF, we conducted hierarchical regressions, controlling for child’s age, gender, and parent education. Results from the first set of analyses revealed a positive association between maternal EF and parenting practices (β=.13, p=.03, CI [.02, .25]) and between maternal EF and the HEFE (β=.14, p=.03, CI [.01, .27]). Significant, positive associations between maternal EF and children’s EF also emerged (β=.14, p=.01), even after including parenting practices and the HEFE in the models (β=.11, p=.03, CI [.01, .21]).
Conclusions. Overall, this study provides empirical support that mothers’ EF skills may shape their parenting behaviors and how they construct the caregiving environment. Though these findings are correlational in nature, they provide critical information with regard to the relation between maternal EF, parenting behaviors, and children’s EF and may have implications for intervention targeting mothers to promote EF in the home.

Authors

• Irem Korucu, Purdue University
  Presenting Author

• Sara Schmitt, Purdue University
  Non-Presenting Author