title: Preschool executive functions, single-parent status, and school quality predict diverging trajectories of classroom inattention in elementary school.
abstract: A sample of 356 children recruited from Head Start (58% European American, 25% African American, and 17% Hispanic; 54% girls; M age = 4.59 years) were followed longitudinally from prekindergarten through fifth grade. Latent profile analyses of teacher-rated inattention from kindergarten through third grade identified four developmental trajectories: stable low (53% of the sample), stable high (11.3%), rising over time (16.4%), and declining over time (19.3%). Children with stable low inattention had the best academic outcomes in fifth grade, and children exhibiting stable high inattention had the worst, with the others in between. Self-regulation difficulties in preschool (poor executive function skills and elevated opposition-aggression) differentiated children with rising versus stable low inattention. Elementary schools characterized by higher achievement differentiated children with declining versus stable high inattention. Boys and children from single-parent families were more likely to remain high or rise in inattention, whereas girls and children from dual-parent families were more likely to remain low or decline in inattention.
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Tyler R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Sasser
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Beekman
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Bierman
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000145:classification*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools / Q000592:standards*; D012737:Sex Factors; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000523:psychology*; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States