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Halse M, Steinsbekk S, Bjørklund O, Hammar Å, Wichstrøm L. Emotions or cognitions first? Longitudinal relations between executive functions and emotion regulation in childhood. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 38590290 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Executive functions and emotion regulation develop from early childhood to adolescence and are predictive of important psychosocial outcomes. However, despite the correlation between the two regulatory capacities, whether they are prospectively related in school-aged children remains unknown, and the direction of effects is uncertain. In this study, a sample drawn from two birth cohorts in Norway was biennially examined between the ages of 6 and 14 (n = 852, 50.1% girls, 93% Norwegian). Parents completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist, and teachers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model revealed that improved emotion regulation predicted increased executive functioning to the same extent throughout development, whereas enhanced executive functioning was unrelated to future changes in emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marte Halse
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Silje Steinsbekk
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Oda Bjørklund
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | | | - Lars Wichstrøm
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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Leshem R, Mashal N. What does metaphoric language say about aggression? The relationships between metaphoric language, impulsivity, and aggression. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 243:104173. [PMID: 38320413 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104173] [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: 10/22/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Aggressive behavior among adolescents has been identified as a serious worldwide problem, especially when combined with trait impulsivity. This study investigates the impact of an overlooked aspect of language, namely, metaphor comprehension, on impulsivity and aggression in adolescents. A total of 204 adolescents completed self-reported questionnaires assessing impulsivity and aggression and underwent tests assessing familiar and less familiar metaphor comprehension. The findings reveal inverse relationships between metaphor comprehension and both impulsivity and aggression. Regarding aggression, notable distinctions were observed in the correlations between familiar and less familiar metaphors with specific aggression types. Additionally, impulsivity was found to mediate the relationship between the comprehension of familiar metaphors and aggression. These results are elucidated in the context of cognitive and executive functions, emphasizing the significance of considering metaphor comprehension as a cognitive process capable of modulating aggressive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rotem Leshem
- Department of Criminology, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
| | - Nira Mashal
- Faculty of Education and Gonda Multidisciplinary, Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
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Hammrich CM, Götz S, Daseking M, Weyers S. Does the Association between Preschool Media Use and Language Difficulties at School Entry Vary by First Language of the Child and Parental Education? CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 10:1848. [PMID: 38136050 PMCID: PMC10741467 DOI: 10.3390/children10121848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Both media use and social background affect children's language development. The aim of this study was to explore the association between media use and different aspects of language difficulties (grammar, auditory memory, articulation) and social background (first language (FL), parental education (PE)) in more detail. METHODS We analyzed data from 4015 children from the 2013/14 school entry examination in a Western German city. Media use, FL, and PE were assessed by social history, and language difficulties by sociopediatric screening. We calculated Prevalence Ratios with a 95% Confidence Interval for language difficulties by media use and FL/PE; compared models with and without interaction terms; and estimated the predicted prevalence of language difficulties by media use and FL/PE. RESULTS Children with non-German FL/low PE had a higher media use and more language difficulties. However, the gradual association between media use and grammatical abilities/recommendation of training was more pronounced in children with German FL and medium/high PE. e.g., especially in the preposition subtest. CONCLUSIONS The association between media use and language difficulties varies regarding different aspects of social background and language difficulties. Still, extensive media use is linked with language difficulties for all children. The media competence of young families remains crucial in times of digitalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Maria Hammrich
- Institute of Medical Sociology, Centre for Health and Society, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany, Moorenstrasse 5, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany; (C.M.H.); (S.G.)
| | - Simon Götz
- Institute of Medical Sociology, Centre for Health and Society, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany, Moorenstrasse 5, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany; (C.M.H.); (S.G.)
| | - Monika Daseking
- Educational Psychology, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany;
| | - Simone Weyers
- Institute of Medical Sociology, Centre for Health and Society, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany, Moorenstrasse 5, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany; (C.M.H.); (S.G.)
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Elsayed NM, Luby JL, Barch DM. Contributions of socioeconomic status and cognition to emotion processes and internalizing psychopathology in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 152:105303. [PMID: 37414378 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105303] [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: 12/19/2022] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
This systematic review evaluated evidence from 25 manuscripts regarding three possible relationships of socioeconomic disadvantage (SESD) and cognition to emotion knowledge (EK), emotion regulation (ER), and internalizing psychopathology (IP) across development; a) independent contributions of disadvantage and cognition; b) cognition mediates relations of disadvantage; or c) cognition moderates' relations of disadvantage. Results support associations between SESD and cognition to emotion that differ by cognitive domain and developmental epoch. For EK, in early and middle childhood language and executive functions contribute to EK independent of SESD, and early childhood executive functions may interact with socioeconomic status (SES) to predict prospective EK. Regarding ER, language contributes to ER independent of SES across development and may mediate associations between SES and ER in adolescence. Regarding IP, SES, language, executive function, and general ability have independent contributions to IP across development; in adolescence executive function may mediate or moderate associations between SES and IP. Findings highlight the need for nuanced and developmentally sensitive research on the contributions of SESD and domains of cognition to emotion.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Joan L Luby
- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Deanna M Barch
- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA; Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA
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Kabha L, Berger A. When kindergarteners are tempted to deceive: A study of factors predicting lie-telling for personal gain. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 233:105697. [PMID: 37224705 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 04/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The current study examined the relations between children's cognitive and emotion abilities with their likelihood to tell a lie for personal gain in a tempting situation. These relations were examined using behavioral tasks and questionnaires. A total of 202 Israel Arab Muslim kindergarten children participated in this study. Our results showed that behavioral self-regulation was positively associated with children's likelihood to tell a lie for personal gain. Children with higher behavioral self-regulation actually tended to lie more for their own gain, suggesting that the likelihood to tell a lie might be related to children's ability to mobilize and integrate their cognitive abilities to self-regulate their behavior. In addition, through exploratory analysis, we found a positive relation between theory of mind and children's likelihood to tell a lie, which was moderated by inhibition. Specifically, only among children with low inhibition was there a positive correlation between their theory of mind and the likelihood to lie. Moreover, age and gender were related to children's lie-telling; older children tended more to lie for their own gain, and this likelihood was higher for boys than for girls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Kabha
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; Department of Education, Al-Qasemi Academic College, Baqa-El-Gharbia, Israel.
| | - Andrea Berger
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
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Turnbull KLP, Cubides Mateus DM, LoCasale-Crouch J, Lewin DS, Williford AP. Sleep Patterns and School Readiness of Pre-Kindergarteners from Racially and Ethnically Diverse, Low-Income Backgrounds. J Pediatr 2022; 251:178-186. [PMID: 35940290 PMCID: PMC10621568 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.07.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To explore patterns in parent-reported child sleep health and to investigate connections between such patterns and school readiness for newly enrolled prekindergarten (PreK) attendees from racially and ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds. STUDY DESIGN In a secondary analysis from a larger multiple-cohort longitudinal observational study of prekindergartners in low-income families, parental reports of sleep health for 351 children (mean age, 52.8 ± 3.5 months) during the first month of PreK were analyzed. Children also had completed direct assessments measuring language, literacy, mathematics, and executive functioning, and teachers rated children's social-emotional-behavioral competencies and approaches to learning at PreK entry. We performed latent class analyses to identify patterns in sleep health and used regression models to examine concurrent associations between child sleep health patterns and school readiness competencies across 6 domains: language, literacy, mathematics, executive functioning, social-emotional-behavioral, and approaches to learning. RESULTS Two classes emerged reflecting more and less desirable patterns of sleep health. Children classified in the earlier, longer, consistent sleep health class (87% of children) experienced earlier bedtimes, longer night-time sleep durations, more consistent sleep routines, less caffeine consumption ≤3 hours before bedtime, and scored higher on a direct assessment of expressive vocabulary and on teacher-reported measures of social-emotional-behavioral competencies and learning approaches than their peers in the later, shorter, inconsistent sleep health class (13% of children). CONCLUSIONS Consistent sleep routines and more optimal sleep health may serve as a protective mechanism for the language development, social-emotional-behavioral regulation, and approaches to learning of PreK from racially and ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds. Clinician-parent discussions regarding optimal sleep health may provide key opportunities for targeted education that promotes school readiness skill development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khara L P Turnbull
- School of Education and Human Development, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
| | - Deiby Mayaris Cubides Mateus
- School of Education and Human Development, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
| | - Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch
- School of Education and Human Development, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
| | - Daniel S Lewin
- Children's National Health System, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC
| | - Amanda P Williford
- School of Education and Human Development, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
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Alamos P, Williford AP, Downer JT, Turnbull KLP. How does inhibitory control predict emotion regulation in preschool? The role of individual children's interactions with teachers and peers. Dev Psychol 2022; 58:2049-2063. [PMID: 36048095 PMCID: PMC9624118 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Emotion regulation is foundational to children's psychological wellbeing and future school adjustment. As young children are spending increasing amounts of time in preschool programs, investigating how early childhood classrooms can foster emotion regulation development is warranted. In this study, we tested individual children's interactions with teachers and peers as potential mechanisms through which inhibitory control supports emotion regulation in the preschool classroom. Participants included 767 preschool children (49% female; M = 4.39 years old, SD = .08) from low-income households (income-to-needs ratio M = 1.45, SD = 1.06). Fifty percent of children were Black, 22% White, 13% Latino, and 15% Other race/ethnicity. Children completed direct assessments of inhibitory control in the fall, teachers reported on children's emotion regulation in the fall and spring of the preschool year, and trained observers rated the quality of individual children's interactions with teachers and peers in the fall, winter, and spring. Accounting for earlier emotion regulation, mediation analyses indicated that children's inhibitory control operates through individual children's (a) positive interactions with peers and (b) negative interactions with teachers and peers to support their subsequent emotion regulation. These findings underscore the role of the preschool classroom as an emotion socialization context for children from low-income households, along with providing additional evidence about the importance of social interactions to understand children's emotional development in context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Pilar Alamos
- Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia
| | - Amanda P Williford
- Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia
| | - Jason T Downer
- Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia
| | - Khara L P Turnbull
- Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia
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Stoop TB, Cole PM. Listening in: An Alternative Method for Measuring the Family Emotional Environment. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2022; 25:151-165. [PMID: 35201541 PMCID: PMC8957590 DOI: 10.1007/s10567-022-00392-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The family emotional environment influences children's development of emotion regulation in various ways. Children's difficulties with effectively regulating emotions, in turn, can contribute to the development of psychopathology. However, the pathways that explain how environmental emotion-including overheard emotion among family members-influences children's development of healthy or problematic emotion regulation are unclear. In this article, we briefly discuss the most common methods (e.g., questionnaires, laboratory observations) used to assess emotion in the family. We consider the benefits and limitations of these methods and discuss the need for objective measurement of the family emotional environment. We include a description of the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), which provides unobtrusive, extended sampling of the emotional tone of family interaction in the home. We present preliminary evidence of its use with 7- and 8-year-old and their families during one day at home. The method reveals that objectively assessed parent-to-parent interactions that are negatively toned, but not parental self-report of conflict or expressivity, are associated with children's self-reported emotional reactions to hearing independently recorded clips of their mothers' voices during simulated angry interactions. The finding suggests unique contributions of objective, unobtrusive, extended measurement of the family emotional environment to understanding aspects of children's emotional development that may not be captured with other commonly used methods. We discuss future directions that explore how EAR may be used to further our knowledge of the pathways between environmental emotion as a risk factor that influences children's emotional functioning and their psychological well-being.
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Goble P, Flynn T, Nauman C, Almendarez P, Linstrom M. Intervention Implementation of Tools of the Mind for Preschool Children's Executive Functioning. Front Psychol 2021; 12:624140. [PMID: 33776847 PMCID: PMC7993202 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the more prominent early childhood interventions focused on the development of executive function (EF) skills is Tools of the Mind (Tools; Bodrova and Leong, 2019). Intervention studies comparing Tools classrooms with control classrooms, however, reveal inconsistent findings for children's EF outcomes. The current study utilizes Head Start CARES teachers assigned to the Tools of the Mind enhancement intervention (Tools; N = 75) and the children in their classrooms (N = 738). Relations between teachers' characteristics (i.e., teaching experience, psychological well-being, and educational background), training attendance and implementation (i.e., coach rated fidelity and observed scaffolding), and the interaction among these factors were examined as predictors of classroom-level gains in EF. Results revealed several significant moderation effects indicating that Tools implementation is related to classroom EF gains for some but not all teachers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priscilla Goble
- School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, United States
| | - Toria Flynn
- School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, United States
| | - Cambrian Nauman
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Pond Almendarez
- School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, United States
| | - Meagan Linstrom
- Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, Austin, TX, United States
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