title: The measurement of executive function at age 5: psychometric properties and relationship to academic achievement.
abstract: This study examined the psychometric properties and criterion validity of a newly developed battery of executive function (EF) tasks for use in early childhood. The battery was included in the Family Life Project (FLP), a prospective longitudinal study of families who were oversampled from low-income and African American families at the birth of a new child (N = 1,292). Ninety-nine percent (N = 1,036) of children who participated in the age 5 home visit completed 1 or more (M = 5.8, Mdn = 6) of the 6 EF tasks. Results indicated that tasks worked equally well for children residing in low-income and not low-income homes, that task scores were most informative about the ability level of children in the low-average range, that performance on EF tasks was best characterized by a single factor, and that individual differences on the EF battery were strongly related to a latent variable measuring overall academic achievement, as well as to individual standardized tests that measured phonological awareness, letter-word identification, and early math skills.
authors.affiliation: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA. willoughby@unc.edu
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Willoughby
authors.forename: Clancy B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wirth
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Greenberg
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009657:North Carolina; D010414:Pennsylvania; D011203:Poverty; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D013067:Speech Perception