Parenting Mediates the Effects of Income and Cumulative Risk on the Development of Effortful Control

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that the effects of income and cumulative risk on the development of effortful control during preschool would be mediated by parenting. The study utilized a community sample of 306 children (36–40 months) representing the full range of family income, with 29 percent at or near poverty and 28 percent lower income. Two dimensions of effortful control (executive control and delay ability) were assessed at four time points, each separated by nine months, and growth trajectories were examined. Maternal warmth, negativity, limit setting, scaffolding, and responsiveness were observed. Above the effects of child cognitive ability, income, and cumulative risk, scaffolding predicted higher initial levels of executive control that remained higher across the study, and limit setting predicted greater gains in executive control. Parenting did not predict changes in delay ability. Significant indirect effects indicated that scaffolding mediated the effects of income and cumulative risk on growth in executive control. The findings suggest that parenting behaviors can promote effortful control in young children and could be targets of prevention programs in low‐income families.

Preparing home visitors to partner with families of infants and toddlers

“…The family stress model (Conger & Donnellan, 2007) captures a cascade of family problems that often follow from these stressors, including depression or anxiety, which negatively affect a parent's ability to cope with the demands of parenting. Compromised parenting in turn often leads to problematic child-rearing behaviors that may interfere with children's cognitive and emotional development (Lengua et al, 2014;Mistry, Vandewater, Huston, & McLoyd, 2002). Of course, not all poor families struggle similarly, and some resilient families manage, with appropriate support, to provide strong home environments for their children (Ungar, Ghazinour, & Richter, 2013).…”

Effects of a responsiveness–focused intervention in family child care homes on children’s executive function

“…There is also evidence that delay inhibition and conflict EF differ in their developmental course, predictors, and associations with social-emotional and academic outcomes (Allan, Hume, Allan, Farrington, & Lonigan, 2014; Carlson, 2005; Lengua et al, 2014; Li-Grining, 2007). For instance, preschoolers’ delay inhibition but not conflict EF accounted for unique variance in later internalizing and externalizing problems (Kim et al, 2013; Smith-Donald, Raver, Hayes, & Richardson, 2007), whereas conflict EF but not delay inhibition made unique contributions to growth in emergent literacy and mathematics (Brock et al, 2009; Bull, Espy, & Wiebe, 2008; Clark, Pritchard, & Woodward, 2010; McClelland et al, 2007; Welsh et al, 2010; Willoughby et al, 2011).…”

Body Mass Index Mediates the Effects of Low Income on Preschool Children's Executive Control, with Implications for Behavior and Academics

“…Additionally, given the complex nature of poverty, obesity, and cognitive functioning, there may be unmeasured variables that are related to the variables in our model. 22 In particular, there is evidence that physical activity, screen time, diet, and parenting 46,47 are linked to both BMI and EC in children, and we do not take those factors into account in our model. Additionally, there is evidence suggesting that the relation of cognition and BMI is domain specific.…”