title: A longitudinal intergenerational analysis of executive functions during early childhood.
abstract: Despite the importance of executive function (EF) in both clinical and educational contexts, the aetiology of individual differences in early childhood EF remains poorly understood. This study provides the first longitudinal intergenerational analysis of mother-child EF associations during early childhood. A group of children and their mothers (n = 62) completed age-appropriate EF tasks. Mother and child EFs were modestly correlated by 24 months of age, and this association was stable through 48 months. Importantly, maternal-child EF associations were still robust after controlling for verbal ability (potential indicator of verbal/crystallized intelligence) and maternal education (correlate of socio-economic status and verbal intelligence). Potential implications of these findings as well as underlying mechanisms of the maternal-child EF association (gene-environment interplay) are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cuevas
authors.forename: Kirby
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deater-Deckard
authors.forename: Jungmeen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim-Spoon
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Katherine C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Morasch
authors.forename: Martha Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: early childhood; executive function; individual differences; intergenerational transmission; longitudinal