The Unique Relevance of Executive Functions and Self-Regulation Behaviors for Understanding Early Childhood Experiences and Preschoolers' Outcomes in Rural Pakistan

Autor/inn/en	Obradovic, Jelena; Finch, Jenna E.; Connolly, Catie; Siyal, Saima; Yousafzai, Aisha K.
Titel	The Unique Relevance of Executive Functions and Self-Regulation Behaviors for Understanding Early Childhood Experiences and Preschoolers' Outcomes in Rural Pakistan
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 25 (2022) 6, (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1363-755X
DOI	10.1111/desc.13271
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Preschool Children; Disadvantaged Youth; Rural Youth; Early Experience; Executive Function; Self Control; Affective Behavior; Positive Attitudes; Interpersonal Competence; Child Development; Family Characteristics; Family Financial Resources; Parent Education; Mothers; Nutrition; Child Behavior; Pakistan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Benachteiligter Jugendlicher; Rural area; Rural areas; Youth; Ländlicher Raum; Jugend; Jugendlicher; Frühbeginn; Selbstbeherrschung; Affective disturbance; Active behaviour; Affektive Störung; Interpersonale Kompetenz; Kindesentwicklung; Parents education; Elternbildung; Elternschule; Mother; Mutter; Ernährung
Abstract	Performance-based measures of children's executive functions (EFs) do not capture children's application of these skills during everyday emotionally-laden and socially-mediated interactions. The current study demonstrates the value of using assessor report of self-regulation behaviors (inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement) in addition to EF tasks when studying early childhood experiences and development in a rural lower-middle-income country setting. In a sample of 1302 disadvantaged 4-year-olds living in rural Pakistan, we found that directly assessed EFs were significantly related to assessor observations of children's inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement during a structured assessment protocol. However, EFs and two types of self-regulation behaviors demonstrated unique associations with children's (1) "contextual experiences," as indexed by family socio-economic resources, participation in parenting interventions, and children's physical growth; and (2) "age-salient developmental outcomes," as indexed by direct assessment of pre-academic skills and maternal report of prosocial behaviors and behavior problems. First, family wealth uniquely predicted only observed positive affect/engagement, whereas maternal education uniquely predicted only EFs. Second, children's antecedent linear growth was a significant predictor of both EFs and positive affect/engagement, but exposure to an enhanced nutrition intervention during the first 2 years of life and preschoolers' hair cortisol concentration were associated only with observed self-regulation behaviors. Finally, both EFs and observed positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted children's pre-academic skills. In contrast, only assessors' ratings of positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted maternal report of prosocial behaviors and only assessors' ratings of inhibitory control uniquely predicted maternal report of behavioral problems. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01