Inhibitory Control, Externalizing, ADHD, and Academic Difficulties: A Comprehensive Approach from Preschool through Elementary School

• In Event: A Developmental Approach to Advancing the Understanding of Self-Regulation and Related Outcomes Across Childhood

Abstract

Introduction: Inhibitory control (IC) is both a temperament dimension and an executive function (EF) involving the self-regulation of impulses and pre-potent behavior (Gagne, 2017). Children with low IC are at-risk for cognitive and socio-emotional difficulties including externalizing behavior problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related academic challenges. The current study examined IC in preschool-aged siblings from a multi-method perspective. We also measured working memory (WM) and vocabulary in preschool, as well as behavior problems and school outcomes in elementary school. We hypothesized that preschool IC would be significantly associated with WM and vocabulary concurrently, and that all three of these preschool variables would predict behavior problems and school outcomes in elementary school. We expected that patterns of findings would not always be consistent across different preschool assessments (e.g., temperament vs. EF measures).

Method: Participants were from the STUDY BLINDED and included 99 families with two children (N = 198) between 2.5 and 5.5 years of age (M = 3.88), in which 102 were boys and 96 were girls. Preschool IC was assessed using a parent-report questionnaire, a modified Stroop task, two structured temperament assessment episodes, and three post-visit observer ratings completed by experimenters. We measured WM using the laboratory “Spin-the-Pots” task and assessed vocabulary with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Elementary school externalizing and ADHD behavior problems, and school outcomes were assessed via follow-up parent-reported questionnaire.

Results: Bivariate correlational analyses showed that all IC ratings except one of the lab-based temperament measures were positively related to Spin-the-Pots and the PPVT in preschool, indicating that higher levels of IC are associated with WM and child vocabulary. We then conducted multilevel model hierarchical regression analyses to more rigorously test associations between IC, WM and child vocabulary including child age and gender, and maternal depression as covariates. IC variables and maternal depression accounted for a significant amount of variation in child vocabulary over and above child gender and age. High IC as assessed by parent-ratings and our Stroop task predicted greater preschool WM. Preliminary longitudinal analyses indicate that preschool parent- and lab-based temperament ratings of IC, and preschool observer ratings of impulsivity are negatively linked to externalizing and ADHD in elementary school (other preschool measures were not). However, preschool parent ratings of IC, Stroop, WM and vocabulary scores were all positively associated with academic competence in elementary school.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that the self-regulation of impulses and pre-potent responses as indexed by multiple measures of IC is associated with WM and vocabulary in preschool children. Preschool MLM analyses show more specific patterns of findings depending on the method of IC assessment, as expected. Finally, low levels of our temperament-based preschool IC measures predicted behavior problems in elementary school, while preschool EF (Stroop and WM), vocabulary and parent-rated IC predicted academic competence in elementary school. The major implication is the importance of multi-method IC assessment in studies examining preschool IC and academic and behavioral outcomes. With sufficient power, we intend to conduct MLM and SEM analyses longitudinally next.

Authors

• Jeffrey R. Gagne, Texas A&M University - College Station
  Presenting Author

• Kaelyn Madison Barker, Texas A&M University - College Station
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ogechi Nwadinobi
  Non-Presenting Author