Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten.
This study examined the role of self-regulation in emerging academic ability in one hundred and forty-one 3- to 5-year-old children from low-income homes. Measures of effortful control, false belief understanding, and the inhibitory control and attention-shifting aspects of executive function in preschool were related to measures of math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Results indicated that the various aspects of child self-regulation accounted for unique variance in the academic outcomes independent of general intelligence and that the inhibitory control aspect of executive function was a prominent correlate of both early math and reading ability. Findings suggest that curricula designed to improve self-regulation skills as well as enhance early academic abilities may be most effective in helping children succeed in school.
Blair
Clancy
C
Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802-6504, USA. cbb11@psu.edu
Razza
Rachel Peters
RP
D000293:Adolescent; D001076:Aptitude; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003469:Culture; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D005082:Physical Exertion; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D011340:Problem Solving; D011932:Reading; D013694:Temperament