Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood.
<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Prior research has established steep socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in children's cognitive skills at kindergarten entry. Yet, few studies have had comprehensive, multi-informant data to examine SES-related differences in foundational social...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277013 |
| _version_ | 1828333022634573824 |
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| author | Jorge Cuartas Emily Hanno Nonie K Lesaux Stephanie M Jones |
| author_facet | Jorge Cuartas Emily Hanno Nonie K Lesaux Stephanie M Jones |
| author_sort | Jorge Cuartas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background and objectives</h4>Prior research has established steep socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in children's cognitive skills at kindergarten entry. Yet, few studies have had comprehensive, multi-informant data to examine SES-related differences in foundational social and emotional skills and executive function. The objective of the current study is to systematically examine SES-related differences in young children's executive function (EF), self-regulation skills, and behaviors.<h4>Methods</h4>The current study analyzed data on 2,309 young children from the Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H). Multi-method (direct-assessment and reports) and multi-informant (parents and early education and care educators) information on children's executive function, self-regulation skills, and internalizing, externalizing, and adaptive behaviors were used. A parametric framework employing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation was used to quantify the size of the SES-related differences in this set of children's foundational social-emotional skills.<h4>Results</h4>On average, there were differences of 0.24-0.45 SD for EF, 0.22-0.32 SD for self-regulation skills, and 0.27-0.54 SD for behaviors favoring children from the highest SES quartile of the distribution of SES relative to children from the lowest quartile. The SES-related differences were consistent across direct assessment, parent reports, and educator reports. Some differences were larger for older children relative to their younger counterparts.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Findings indicate a need for comprehensive intervention efforts well before kindergarten entry aimed at closing early disparities in children's foundational social and emotional skills and executive function. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T21:14:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0af9a88d7954402aa22c903e04949fad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T21:14:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-0af9a88d7954402aa22c903e04949fad2022-12-22T02:29:44ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-011711e027701310.1371/journal.pone.0277013Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood.Jorge CuartasEmily HannoNonie K LesauxStephanie M Jones<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Prior research has established steep socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in children's cognitive skills at kindergarten entry. Yet, few studies have had comprehensive, multi-informant data to examine SES-related differences in foundational social and emotional skills and executive function. The objective of the current study is to systematically examine SES-related differences in young children's executive function (EF), self-regulation skills, and behaviors.<h4>Methods</h4>The current study analyzed data on 2,309 young children from the Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H). Multi-method (direct-assessment and reports) and multi-informant (parents and early education and care educators) information on children's executive function, self-regulation skills, and internalizing, externalizing, and adaptive behaviors were used. A parametric framework employing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation was used to quantify the size of the SES-related differences in this set of children's foundational social-emotional skills.<h4>Results</h4>On average, there were differences of 0.24-0.45 SD for EF, 0.22-0.32 SD for self-regulation skills, and 0.27-0.54 SD for behaviors favoring children from the highest SES quartile of the distribution of SES relative to children from the lowest quartile. The SES-related differences were consistent across direct assessment, parent reports, and educator reports. Some differences were larger for older children relative to their younger counterparts.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Findings indicate a need for comprehensive intervention efforts well before kindergarten entry aimed at closing early disparities in children's foundational social and emotional skills and executive function.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277013 |
| spellingShingle | Jorge Cuartas Emily Hanno Nonie K Lesaux Stephanie M Jones Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood. PLoS ONE |
| title | Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood. |
| title_full | Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood. |
| title_fullStr | Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood. |
| title_short | Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood. |
| title_sort | executive function self regulation skills behaviors and socioeconomic status in early childhood |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277013 |
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