Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, IN, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2011 Mar;47(2):404-16. doi: 10.1037/a0021065.
Research suggests that executive functioning skills may enhance the school readiness of children from disadvantaged homes. Questions remain, however, concerning both the structure and the stability of executive functioning among preschoolers. In addition, there is a lack of research addressing potential predictors of longitudinal change in executive functioning during early childhood. This study examined the structure of executive functioning from fall to spring of the preschool year using a multimethod battery of measures. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a unidimensional model fit the data well at both time points, and tests of measurement invariance across time points indicated that children's mean latent executive functioning scores significantly improved over time. Verbal ability was a significant predictor of longitudinal change in executive functioning. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
研究表明，执行功能技能可能会提高来自弱势家庭的儿童的入学准备水平。然而，关于学龄前儿童执行功能的结构和稳定性仍存在一些问题。此外，针对儿童早期执行功能的纵向变化的潜在预测因素的研究还很缺乏。本研究使用多方法的成套测试来考察学前年度秋冬至春夏期间执行功能的结构。验证性因素分析表明，在两个时间点上，单维模型都很好地拟合数据，并且时间点之间的测量不变性检验表明，儿童的潜在执行功能平均分数随时间显著提高。言语能力是执行功能纵向变化的一个重要预测因素。讨论了理论意义和未来研究方向。
