Teachers' rankings of children's executive functions: Validating a methodology for school-based data collection

Leveraging item-level accuracy and reaction time to address ceiling effects in the measurement of inhibitory control in preschool-aged children

Preschool-aged children's performance on inhibitory control tasks is typically represented by the overall accuracy of their item responses (e.g., mean proportion correct). However, in settings where children vary widely in age or ability level, inhibitory control tasks are susceptible to ceiling effects, which undermine measurement precision. We have previously demonstrated a general approach for scoring inhibitory control tasks that combines item-level accuracy and reaction-time information to minimize ceiling effects. Here, we extend that approach by incorporating additional item-level reaction time data from an adjunct (simple reaction time) task. We contrast three approaches for scoring inhibitory control tasks, two of which rely exclusively on item accuracy information and a third which also considers item reaction time information. We demonstrate the impacts of these different approaches to scoring with two inhibitory control tasks that were included in a recent evaluation of the Red Light, Purple Light intervention in preprimary classrooms in Nairobi County, Kenya. We limited our study to children who met inclusion criteria at pre-test (N = 418; 51% male; mean age = 4.8 years) or post-test (N = 386; 51% male; mean age = 4.8 years). Children's performance on individual inhibitory control tasks was strongly correlated regardless of the scoring approach (rs = 0.73-0.97 across two tasks). However, the combined accuracy and reaction time scores eliminated ceiling effects that were common when only accuracy information was used. The combined accuracy and reaction time models also distinguished item-level RT into inhibitory control and processing speed components, which are distinct constructs. Results are discussed with respect to the challenges and nuances of the estimation and interpretation of inhibitory control task scores with children of varied ages and ability levels.

The Impact of Parental Migration on Multidimensional Health of Children in Rural China: The Moderating Effect of Mobile Phone Addiction

Improving physical, mental and cognitive health is a strategic choice to help developing countries cross the middle-income trap. This paper used data from the 2019 China Rural Children Health and Nutrition Survey (n = 826), and used the Ordered Probit (Oprobit), Logit and ordinary least squares (OLS) analytical methods to systematically analyze the implications of parental migration on multidimensional health. The results indicate that parental migration significantly harms the physical and mental health of rural children, and that mobile phone addiction has a significant moderating effect. Moreover, parental migration has a greater impact on the physical health, mental health and cognitive ability of boys and rural children with low family income, while parents with higher nutrition knowledge and education can effectively improve the physical health and cognitive ability of their children. In conclusion, in order to improve the multidimensional health of rural children, the government should strengthen the policy of care and support for children whose parents migrate. Schools and families should pay attention to the supervision of rural children's mobile phone addiction.

Exploring Idiographic Approaches to Children's Executive Function Performance: An Intensive Longitudinal Study

Traditional variable-centered research on executive functions (EFs) often infers intraindividual development using group-based averages. Such a method masks meaningful individuality and involves the fallacy of equating group-level data with person-specific changes. We used an intensive longitudinal design to study idiographic executive function fluctuation among ten boys from Grade 4. Each of the participants completed between 33 and 43 measurement occasions (M = 38.8) across approximately three months. Data were collected remotely using a computerized short version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. Multi-group analyses of three participant pairs (Participants 5 and 3, 5 and 2, and 5 and 6) demonstrated that Participant 5 differed from Participants 3 and 2 in different ways but Participants 5 and 6 were similar in all comparisons. Dynamic structural equation modeling demonstrated unique individual trajectories, which were not represented by the trajectory of group-averages. Although more than half of the participants showed a negative association between EFs and inattention, two participants showed a positive association between EF and inattention. This study demonstrated meaningful person-specific trajectories of EFs, suggesting that future study should undertake the analysis of individual development before data-aggregation or generalization from aggregate statistics to individuals.

Moving beyond executive functions: Challenge preference as a predictor of academic achievement in elementary school

Intrinsic motivation and executive functions (EFs) have been independently studied as predictors of academic achievement in elementary school. The goal of this investigation was to understand how students' challenge preference (CP), an aspect of intrinsic motivation, is related to academic achievement while accounting for EFs as a confounding variable. Using data from a longitudinal study of 569 third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders (50% female), we tested students' self-reported CP as a predictor of mathematics and English language arts (ELA) achievement in multilevel models that controlled for school fixed effects and student demographic characteristics. CP was positively associated with mathematics and ELA over and above the set of covariates and EFs. While also controlling for prior achievement, CP continued to explain a small amount of unique variance in mathematics, but not in ELA. These results underscore the importance of including measures of students' intrinsic motivation, in addition to EFs, to obtain a comprehensive understanding of academic success.