Executive functioning in at-risk preschool children

In the two studies reported here, I examined executive functioning (EF) in preschool children from a low-income, urban, ethnic minority population. EF is recognized as a crucial aspect of children's development and a predictor of school readiness and success. Thus it is important to understand the factors contributing to individual differences in EF. In Study 1, one latent factor accounted for children's performance on three behavioral tasks designed to measure EF. Considering a number of child and parent characteristics, child's age, higher verbal ability, and greater parental reported use of reasoning predicted EF performance. Parental education level and reported nurturing were related to children's EF scores, but were not significant after accounting for other variables. Child's sex, bilingual status, and parent-reported depressive symptoms were not related to children's EF. Study 2 replicated one latent construct derived from the three EF tasks, which was predicted by child age and verbal ability but not parental use of reasoning. Children's EF was also examined using teacher-report on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning-Preschool version (BRIEF-P). Teacher ratings and child performance measures were moderately correlated. Teachers rated older children, females, and children whose parents reported less depressive symptoms as experiencing less difficulty with their practical EF skills.