Mason W Alex, Fleming Charles B, Tomaso Cara C, James Tiffany D, Nelson Jennifer Mize, Espy Kimberly Andrews, Nelson Timothy D
Boys Town, Child and Family Translational Research Center, 378 Bucher Drive, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA.
Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors, University of Washington, 1100 NE 45th St., #300, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
Prev Sci. 2020 Jul;21(5):681-690. doi: 10.1007/s11121-020-01119-1.
This study examined whether cognitive processes in preschool, conceptualized as a unitary construct of executive control (EC) as well as foundational cognitive abilities (FCA), predict both maladaptive and adaptive functioning in middle childhood and mediate associations between early childhood socio-familial stress and those functional outcomes. Performance-based, multidimensional, and age-appropriate measures of EC and FCA were collected in a laboratory setting from 313 preschool-age children at age 5, along with questionnaire data from children and their parents on three dimensions of early socio-familial stress and parent smoking. Parent, teacher, and child self-report data on 285 of these children were obtained when they were in grade 3 or 4. Middle childhood data were used to create indices of maladaptive and adaptive functioning. A bi-factor structural equation modeling analysis captured distinct dimensions of preschool EC and FCA and was used to test the hypothesized pathways. EC had a statistically significant negative association with later maladaptive functioning. FCA, but not EC, served as a mediator in links between each type of family stressor and both maladaptive and adaptive functioning in middle childhood. Results suggest that EC may play a role in predicting maladaptation, whereas early childhood FCA may operate as an intervening variable in pathways from early family stressors to subsequent maladaptation as well as adaptation. Findings point to the need to address FCA by reducing early family stressors. Early interventions that enhance cognitive abilities may help reduce maladaptive and promote adaptive functioning later in childhood, thereby potentially preventing, in turn, later behavioral problems.
本研究探讨了学前儿童的认知过程，将其概念化为执行控制（EC）的单一结构以及基础认知能力（FCA），是否能预测童年中期的适应不良和适应性功能，并介导幼儿期社会家庭压力与这些功能结果之间的关联。在实验室环境中，对313名5岁的学龄前儿童收集了基于表现、多维且适合其年龄的EC和FCA测量数据，同时还收集了儿童及其父母关于早期社会家庭压力和父母吸烟三个维度的问卷数据。当这些儿童处于三年级或四年级时，获得了其中285名儿童的家长、教师和儿童自我报告数据。童年中期的数据用于创建适应不良和适应性功能的指标。双因素结构方程模型分析捕捉了学前儿童EC和FCA的不同维度，并用于检验假设的路径。EC与后期的适应不良功能存在统计学上的显著负相关。FCA而非EC在每种家庭压力源与童年中期的适应不良和适应性功能之间的联系中起中介作用。结果表明，EC可能在预测适应不良方面发挥作用，而幼儿期的FCA可能在从早期家庭压力源到随后的适应不良以及适应的路径中作为一个干预变量。研究结果指出需要通过减少早期家庭压力源来解决FCA问题。增强认知能力的早期干预可能有助于减少童年后期的适应不良并促进适应性功能，从而反过来有可能预防后期的行为问题。
