TY - JOUR
T1 - Executive Control Throughout Elementary School
T2 - Factor Structure and Associations With Early Childhood Executive Control
AU - Nelson, Timothy D.
AU - James, Tiffany D.
AU - Nelson, Jennifer Mize
AU - Tomaso, Cara C.
AU - Espy, Kimberly Andrews
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH065668), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK116693), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA041738), and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM130461) of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We thank the participating families and acknowledge the invaluable assistance with data collection and coding by research technicians and undergraduate and graduate students of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. American Psychological Association
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This study examined the factor structure of executive control throughout elementary school, as well as associations between executive control abilities in preschool and elementary school. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of executive control development in a community sample of children (N = 294; 53% female, 47% male) oversampled for low family income (25.4% below poverty line; Mincome = $46,638; SD = $33,256). The sample was representative of the Midwestern city in which the study was conducted in terms of race (71.4% White, 24.5% multiracial, 3.7% Black, and.3% Asian American) and ethnicity (14% Hispanic). Children completed a battery of ten performance-based tasks assessing executive control abilities in grades 1 (Mage = 7.08 years), 2 (Mage = 8.04 years), 3 (Mage = 9.02 years), and 4 (Mage = 9.98 years). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure at each grade with factors representing working memory and inhibitory control/flexible shifting. Measurement invariance testing revealed partial scalar (indicator intercepts) invariance for working memory and partial metric (indicator loadings) and partial scalar invariance for inhibitory control/flexible shifting. Preschool executive control (age 4.5 years), represented by a unitary latent factor, significantly predicted working memory (bs =.79,.72,.81,.66) and inhibitory control/flexible shifting (bs =.69,.64,.63,.62) factors in grades 1 through 4. Follow-up analyses indicated that the findings were not attributable to general cognitive ability. Findings support greater separability of executive control components in elementary school versus preschool, and considerable continuity of executive control from preschool through elementary school.
AB - This study examined the factor structure of executive control throughout elementary school, as well as associations between executive control abilities in preschool and elementary school. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of executive control development in a community sample of children (N = 294; 53% female, 47% male) oversampled for low family income (25.4% below poverty line; Mincome = $46,638; SD = $33,256). The sample was representative of the Midwestern city in which the study was conducted in terms of race (71.4% White, 24.5% multiracial, 3.7% Black, and.3% Asian American) and ethnicity (14% Hispanic). Children completed a battery of ten performance-based tasks assessing executive control abilities in grades 1 (Mage = 7.08 years), 2 (Mage = 8.04 years), 3 (Mage = 9.02 years), and 4 (Mage = 9.98 years). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure at each grade with factors representing working memory and inhibitory control/flexible shifting. Measurement invariance testing revealed partial scalar (indicator intercepts) invariance for working memory and partial metric (indicator loadings) and partial scalar invariance for inhibitory control/flexible shifting. Preschool executive control (age 4.5 years), represented by a unitary latent factor, significantly predicted working memory (bs =.79,.72,.81,.66) and inhibitory control/flexible shifting (bs =.69,.64,.63,.62) factors in grades 1 through 4. Follow-up analyses indicated that the findings were not attributable to general cognitive ability. Findings support greater separability of executive control components in elementary school versus preschool, and considerable continuity of executive control from preschool through elementary school.
KW - Elementary school
KW - Executive control
KW - Factor structure
KW - Inhibitory control
KW - Preschool
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U2 - 10.1037/dev0001314
DO - 10.1037/dev0001314
M3 - Article
C2 - 35343719
AN - SCOPUS:85128000419
SN - 0012-1649
VL - 58
SP - 730
EP - 750
JO - Developmental Psychology
JF - Developmental Psychology
IS - 4
ER -