TY - JOUR
T1 - Executive Control in Early Childhood as an Antecedent of Adolescent Problem Behaviors
T2 - A Longitudinal Study with Performance-based Measures of Early Childhood Cognitive Processes
AU - Fleming, Charles B.
AU - Stevens, Amy L.
AU - Vivero, Marla
AU - Patwardhan, Irina
AU - Nelson, Timothy D.
AU - Nelson, Jennifer Mize
AU - James, Tiffany D.
AU - Espy, Kimberly Andrews
AU - Mason, W. Alex
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Identifying childhood cognitive processes that predict adolescent problem behaviors can help guide understanding and prevention of these behaviors. In a community sample of 313 youth recruited in a small Midwestern city between 2006 and 2012 (49% male, 64% European American), executive control and foundational cognitive abilities were assessed at age 5 in a lab setting with performance-based measures. In adolescence, youth provided self-report of problem behaviors in surveys administered annually between ages 14 and 16. Executive control was negatively associated with externalizing behavior problems and adolescents getting in trouble at school, accounting for foundational cognitive abilities and family background covariates. Executive control had negative, but nonsignificant, associations with internalizing problems and substance use initiation. The findings point to deficits in executive control as a childhood risk factor for later problems and a potential target for preventive interventions.
AB - Identifying childhood cognitive processes that predict adolescent problem behaviors can help guide understanding and prevention of these behaviors. In a community sample of 313 youth recruited in a small Midwestern city between 2006 and 2012 (49% male, 64% European American), executive control and foundational cognitive abilities were assessed at age 5 in a lab setting with performance-based measures. In adolescence, youth provided self-report of problem behaviors in surveys administered annually between ages 14 and 16. Executive control was negatively associated with externalizing behavior problems and adolescents getting in trouble at school, accounting for foundational cognitive abilities and family background covariates. Executive control had negative, but nonsignificant, associations with internalizing problems and substance use initiation. The findings point to deficits in executive control as a childhood risk factor for later problems and a potential target for preventive interventions.
KW - Executive control
KW - Externalizing problems
KW - Foundational cognitive abilities
KW - Internalizing problems
KW - Substance use
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85091120479&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10964-020-01316-9
DO - 10.1007/s10964-020-01316-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 32935250
AN - SCOPUS:85091120479
SN - 0047-2891
VL - 49
SP - 2429
EP - 2440
JO - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
JF - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
IS - 12
ER -