For Better or for Worse? Positive and Negative Parental Influences on Young Children's Executive Function

Hughes, Claire

doi:10.1111/cdev.12915

Cited by 108 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 66 publications

(114 reference statements)

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“…Although the findings failed to fully support the view of differential effects of parenting, the significant association between maternal noncollaborative communication acts and children's poorer IC did support the conceptualization that negative parenting is detrimental to early executive functions (e.g., Hughes & Devine, ; Lucassen et al, ; Moilanen et al, ). This finding is also consistent with the theorization that parental speech is influential to early executive functions (Carlson, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…A recent study drawing the sample from a national dataset corroborated our findings, documenting that mothers from low‐income families uttered significantly more noncollaborative speech (i.e., directing) and less collaborative speech (i.e., responding) than their middle‐class counterparts (Fannin, Barbarin, & Crais, ). Relative to sensitive and responsive parenting behaviours (e.g., Fay‐Stammbach et al, ; Hughes & Devine, ), extensive use of collaborative speech might not be particularly beneficial to early IC development in children from middle‐class families. This conjecture, however, needs to be further researched with children from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds using large national samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the social origin of individual differences in early executive function development (Carlson, 2003), positive (e.g., scaffolding) and negative (e.g., control) parenting is conceptualized to have differential effects (i.e., for the better or for the worse influence) on children (e.g., Fay-Stammbach et al, 2014;Hughes & Devine, 2019). Although language F I G U R E 1 The moderation effect of child noncollaborative communication acts on the association between maternal noncollaborative communication acts and child inhibitory control input is also hypothesized to be a major source of parental influence (Carlson, 2003), its contribution has been understudied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Together, it appears that there are differential effects of positive and negative parenting on respectively better or worse early IC development (cf. Hughes & Devine, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a multifaceted construct, different aspects of parenting have different and unique associations with early executive functions (Demers, Bernier, Tarabulsy, & Provost, ; Fay‐Stammbach et al, ; Hughes & Devine, ). Most of the studies that link parenting to IC have largely focused on the overall quality of parenting, but recent research stresses the importance of revealing the developmental influences of distinct parenting processes (De Wolff & van IJzendoorn, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mother–child verbal communication and preschoolers' inhibitory control

Hsu

2019

Infant and Child Development

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Despite growing research on parental influences on preschoolers' inhibitory control (IC), relatively little is known about the role of parental speech. This study explored the association between the pragmatic function (e.g., message or meaning) of maternal verbal communication and IC among preschoolers. Eighty‐three 4‐year‐olds (45 boys) and their mothers participated in this study. Observed during a game, conversations between children and their mothers were transcribed verbatim and classified as collaborative (e.g., support and guide) and noncollaborative (e.g., direct and negate) communication acts. Children's IC was assessed using lab tasks. Results showed that greater maternal noncollaborative communication acts were associated with poorer IC. Furthermore, the negative relationship between maternal noncollaborative communication acts and IC was significant for children who engaged in low and moderate, but not high, levels of noncollaborative communication acts. Finally, the relationship between maternal communication acts and IC did not vary according to child sex or collaborative communication acts when covariates were considered. Highlights Centering on the pragmatic function (i.e., message) of verbal communication between mothers and their 4‐year‐olds, we examined its relationship to children's inhibitory control (IC). Conversations between children and their mothers were transcribed and classified as collaborative (e.g., support and guide) and non‐collaborative (e.g., direct and negate) communication acts, and child IC was assessed using lab tasks. Higher levels of maternal non‐collaborative acts were significantly related to poorer IC. This negative association was further moderated by child non‐collaborative acts, which was significant only when children engaged in low or moderate, but not high, levels of non‐collaborative acts. Negative pragmatic messages conveyed in maternal speech are likely to be detrimental to early IC development. The way mothers and their 4‐year‐olds co‐construct their conversation also matters.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Together, it appears that there are differential effects of positive and negative parenting on respectively better or worse early IC development (cf. Hughes & Devine, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Mother–child verbal communication and preschoolers' inhibitory control

Hsu

2019

Infant and Child Development

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Spanking and parental verbal aggression during early childhood: Association with later academic achievement and the mediating role of executive function

Wang

Zhang

Zhai

2023

Infant and Child Development

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Spanking and parental verbal aggression are potentially toxic stressors that can negatively affect children's academic achievement by disrupting mental skills like executive function. Yet little empirical evidence has been provided for this mediating pathway. This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort of 2010–2011 (n = 11,421) to examine the associations between early childhood exposure to spanking and parental verbal aggression and subsequent academic achievement. We also investigated the mechanism for these associations by exploring the mediating role of executive function within those associations. Findings revealed that spanking and parental verbal aggression in kindergarten and first grade were negatively associated with reading and math scores in fifth grade, controlling for demographics and initial academic performance. Executive function (i.e., inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility and working memory) accounted for more than half (50%–57%) and more than one fourth (24%–31%) of the total effects of spanking and verbal aggression on academic achievement, respectively. Findings provide important evidence for early intervention programs aiming to promote children's academic achievement and executive function by interfering or preventing harsh discipline.Highlights We examined the pathway from spanking and verbal aggression in early childhood to academic achievement in later school years through executive function. Path analysis results show executive function was a significant mediator in the negative associations between academic achievement in fifth grade and early exposure to spanking and aggression. Besides avoiding harsh parenting, intervention programs to support child academic achievement could also target promoting executive function development.

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