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Hu Q, Zhou Y, Xu C, Xu C, Hu F, English AS, Buschkuehl M, Jaeggi SM, Zhang Q. The Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement is Mediated and Moderated by Executive Functions. J Youth Adolesc 2024; 53:1593-1604. [PMID: 38282065 DOI: 10.1007/s10964-024-01941-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Executive function is an underlying mechanism linking family socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement. Previous studies mainly investigated either the mediating or moderating role of executive function within this relationship, which either overlook the individual differences that are independent of the environment or neglect the influence of the environment on shaping personal factors. To avoid a piecemeal approach to theory, the current study aimed to test the mediating and moderating roles of executive function in a single analytic model. Two hundred and thirty-six Chinese fifth graders (Mage = 10.70 years, SD = 0.49, range = 10.23-11.75 years, and 40.30% girls) were recruited. Their executive function performance was measured using eight different tasks, and their Chinese literacy skills and mathematics achievement were assessed by routine school evaluations. One year after the initial assessment, children's academic achievements were evaluated again. Results demonstrated that parental SES positively predicted children's academic achievement when controlling for prior academic achievement, and children's executive function mediated this relationship. Also, executive function moderated the association between SES and academic achievement in that, the negative predictive effect of low SES on academic achievement was only significant for children with lower levels of executive function, which is not shown in children with higher levels of executive function. By demonstrating the dual roles of executive function in the SES-achievement link, this work provides evidence for supporting the optimal development of children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and emphasizes the significance of developing individualized intervention strategies on executive function to mitigate the negative effect of low SES on children's academic achievement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiong Hu
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yanlin Zhou
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Canmei Xu
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Cihua Xu
- School of Philosophy, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | | | | | | | | | - Qiong Zhang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
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Leve LD, Oro V, Natsuaki MN, Harold GT, Neiderhiser JM, Ganiban JM, Shaw DS, DeGarmo DS. The pernicious role of stress on intergenerational continuity of psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol 2024:1-14. [PMID: 38384191 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579424000191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Development and Psychopathology has been a premier resource for understanding stressful childhood experiences and the intergenerational continuity of psychopathology. Building on that tradition, we examined the unique and joint influences of maternal stress on children's effortful control (age 7) and externalizing behavior (age 11) as transmitted via genetics, the prenatal environment, and the postnatal environment. The sample included N = 561 adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents. Path models identified a direct effect of biological mother life stress on children's effortful control (β = -.08) and an indirect effect of her life stress on child externalizing behavior via effortful control (β = .52), but no main or indirect effects of biological parent psychopathology, prenatal stress, or adoptive mother adverse childhood experiences (ACES). Adoptive mother ACES amplified the association between biological mother life stress and child effortful control (β = -.08), externalizing behavior (β = 1.41), and the indirect effect via effortful control, strengthening associations when adoptive mothers reported average or high ACES during their own childhoods. Results suggest that novel study designs are needed to enhance the understanding of how life stress gets "under the skin" to affect psychopathology in the offspring of adults who have experienced stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leslie D Leve
- Prevention Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
- Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Veronica Oro
- Prevention Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Misaki N Natsuaki
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Gordon T Harold
- Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jenae M Neiderhiser
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Jody M Ganiban
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Daniel S Shaw
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - David S DeGarmo
- Prevention Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
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Mistry-Patel S, Brooker RJ. Associations between error-related negativity and childhood anxiety risk differ based on socioeconomic status. Dev Psychol 2023; 59:801-812. [PMID: 36174180 PMCID: PMC10050233 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families are at increased risk for anxiety problems, though knowledge of the pathways by which SES predicts children's anxiety outcomes remains scant. Limited work suggests SES as a moderator of links between early development and anxiety outcomes but has not used a longitudinal framework or a multimethod approach. In this preregistered study, SES was tested as a simultaneous moderator of putatively biologically (error-related negativity [ERN]) and contextually (authoritarian parenting) based pathways of anxiety risk from ages 3 (Mage = 3.59), 4 (Mage = 4.57), and 5 (Mage = 5.52) [N = 121; 59% female]. Families were largely White and Non-Hispanic and reported a broad range of income (less than $15,000 to $90,001 or greater) from 2014 to 2017. We hypothesized that putatively biological pathways would be the strongest predictors of child outcomes at high SES and that putatively contextual pathways would be the strongest predictors of child outcomes at low SES. Consistent with expectations, smaller ERN across ages 3 and 4 was associated with greater anxious behaviors at age 5, but only at high SES. SES did not moderate parenting-based pathways of risk. Results are partially consistent with previous work suggesting that putatively biological pathways are more robust predictors of child outcomes at high SES than at low SES. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebecca J Brooker
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University
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Associations between maternal apology, parenting, and child internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behaviors. JOURNAL OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2022.101484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Li M, Lindenmuth M, Tarnai K, Lee J, King-Casas B, Kim-Spoon J, Deater-Deckard K. Development of cognitive control during adolescence: The integrative effects of family socioeconomic status and parenting behaviors. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 57:101139. [PMID: 35905528 PMCID: PMC9335383 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive control is of great interest to researchers and practitioners. The concurrent association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and adolescent cognitive control is well-documented. However, little is known about whether and how SES relates to individual differences in the development of adolescent cognitive control. The current four-year longitudinal investigation (N = 167, 13-14 years at Wave 1) used multi-source interference task performance (reaction time in interference correct trials minus neutral correct trials) and corresponding neural activities (blood oxygen level dependent contrast of interference versus neutral conditions) as measures of cognitive control. SES and parenting behaviors (warmth, monitoring) were measured through surveys. We examined direct and indirect effects of earlier SES on the development of cognitive control via parenting behaviors; the moderating effect of parenting also was explored. Results of latent growth modeling (LGM) revealed significant interactive effects between SES and parenting predicting behavioral and neural measures of cognitive control. Lower family SES was associated with poorer cognitive performance when coupled with low parental warmth. In contrast, higher family SES was associated with greater improvement in performance, as well as a higher intercept and steeper decrease in frontoparietal activation over time, when coupled with high parental monitoring. These findings extend prior cross-sectional evidence to show the moderating effect of the parenting environment on the potential effects of SES on developmental changes in adolescent cognitive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengjiao Li
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
| | | | - Kathryn Tarnai
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Jacob Lee
- Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Brooks King-Casas
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA; Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | | | - Kirby Deater-Deckard
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
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Sullivan ADW, Forehand R, Vreeland A, Compas BE. Does Parenting Explain the Link Between Cumulative SES Risk and Child Problems in the Context of Parental Depression? Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2022; 53:330-341. [PMID: 33550457 PMCID: PMC8346574 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-021-01130-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The accumulation of socioeconomic stressors, such as being a single parent and having a limited income, is associated with childhood maladjustment and prospective poor health. Evidence suggests both positive and negative parenting strategies (e.g., warmth and praise; criticism and neglect) may account for the relationship between socioeconomic adversity and child outcomes. However, despite the common co-occurrence of parental depression and socioeconomic stress, models of cumulative socioeconomic risk and parenting have yet to be tested in parents who are also coping with depression. In a sample of children whose parents have a history of depression, this study extends findings from a previous report (i.e., Sullivan et al. in J Fam Psychol 33:883-893, 2019) to test whether behavioral observations of parenting account for the association between a cumulative risk index of socioeconomic stress and child psychological problems in the same sample of 179 children (Mage = 11.46 years, SDage = 2.00) of parents with depression. Both positive and negative parenting accounted for the relationship between socioeconomic risk and both child- and parent-reported externalizing problems, whereas no evidence emerged for parenting accounting for the relation between cumulative risk and internalizing problems. This study highlights the central role socioeconomic stress plays in child maladjustment among parents coping with depression, as well as how parenting may be a critical mechanism linking socioeconomic stress and child externalizing problems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rex Forehand
- Psychological Science, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave., Burlington, VT, 05405, USA.
| | - Allison Vreeland
- Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Bruce E. Compas
- Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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Andrews K, Dunn JR, Prime H, Duku E, Atkinson L, Tiwari A, Gonzalez A. Effects of household chaos and parental responsiveness on child executive functions: a novel, multi-method approach. BMC Psychol 2021; 9:147. [PMID: 34548106 PMCID: PMC8456676 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-021-00651-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Executive functions can be adversely affected by contextual risks in the home environment including chaos and parenting challenges. Furthermore, household chaos negatively influences parenting practices. Few studies, however, have examined the role of parenting in the association between household chaos and child executive functions. Methods Using a sample of 128 school-aged children (mean = 61.9 months, SD = 2.0, range 58–68 months) and their mothers, the present study examined direct and indirect effects (via parental responsiveness) of household chaos on child executive functioning. Multi-measures were used including performance-based assessments, behavioural observations, questionnaires, and video-home tours. Results Household chaos had both a direct effect on child executive functions (β = − .31, 95% CI [− .58, − .04]) and an indirect effect (β = − .05, 95% [− .13, − .01]) via parental responsiveness. Further, the indirect effect was only significant for household instability. Conclusion These findings indicate that parental responsiveness may be compromised by household chaos, with implications for the executive functions of school-aged children. Preventative strategies are needed to improve the stability in the home and strengthen parenting practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krysta Andrews
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, MIP 201A, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - James R Dunn
- Department of Health, Aging, and Society, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - Heather Prime
- Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Eric Duku
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, MIP 201A, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.,Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - Leslie Atkinson
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Ashwini Tiwari
- Institute of Public and Preventive Health, Augusta University, 1120 15th St., Augusta, GA, 30912, USA
| | - Andrea Gonzalez
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, MIP 201A, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada. .,Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
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Ming H, Zhang F, Jiang Y, Ren Y, Huang S. Family socio-economic status and children's executive function: The moderating effects of parental subjective socio-economic status and children's subjective social mobility. Br J Psychol 2021; 112:720-740. [PMID: 33421109 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Family socio-economic status (SES) is significantly related to disparities in children's executive function. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds perform worse on executive function tasks than their peers from high-SES families. The protective factors in the relationship between SES and executive function have not been sufficiently investigated, especially from the perspective of parents' and children's perceptions and expectations regarding SES. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether parental subjective SES and children's subjective social mobility separately moderated the relationship between family SES and children's executive function among 885 participants aged 9-13 years. The results showed that family SES was positively related to the three components of executive function (cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory). Moreover, the relationship between SES and cognitive flexibility was weak among the children with a high level of subjective social mobility or those whose parents had high levels of subjective SES. Among children from families with economic hardship, subjective social mobility is a potential protective factor mitigating the negative effects of low family SES on their cognitive flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Ming
- Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Feng Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Ying Jiang
- Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Yi Ren
- Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Silin Huang
- Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China
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Mala J, McGarry J, Riley KE, Lee ECH, DiStefano L. The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Executive Functions Among Youth in Low-Income Urban Schools in the Northeast and Southwest United States. JOURNAL OF SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 42:292-306. [PMID: 32711395 DOI: 10.1123/jsep.2019-0111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2019] [Revised: 03/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine if physical activity is related to greater executive functions among youth in poverty. Executive functions (cognitive flexibility, inhibition, and working memory) and physical activity were measured in participants (N = 149) in the fifth to eighth grade from three schools located in high-poverty districts. Pearson correlations revealed a statistically significant correlation between physical activity and cognitive flexibility (r = .18, p < .05). Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that physical activity significantly improved prediction for cognitive flexibility, R2 = .09, F(6, 142) = 2.26, p = .041, adjusted R2 = .05, above sex, maturity, and school district. A two-way multivariate analysis of covariance revealed statistically significant differences in working memory in more active youth compared with less active but no statistically significant differences in cognitive flexibility or inhibition (p < .05). Greater physical activity is associated with greater working memory among youth in poverty.
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