Relations between executive function and emotionality in preschoolers: Exploring a transitive cognition-emotion...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Early Childhood Education

Background:

• Emotions guide cognition and behavior, with executive function (EF) and emotion regulation (ER) crucial for social-emotional and cognitive development.
• While ER and emotionality are linked, research on emotionality's role in early childhood EF is limited, despite its classroom observability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the impact of emotionality on the development of executive function (EF) in early childhood.
• To examine the relationship between observational EF ratings and standardized EF measures.

Main Methods:

• 175 children (35-60 months) from Head Start and private childcare centers participated.
• Partial least squares modeling analyzed the pathways between emotionality and EF across two time points, 6 months apart.
• Emotionality and EF were assessed via observation and standardized scales (e.g., BRIEF-P).

Main Results:

• Both observed EF and emotionality demonstrated stability over 6 months, predicting their future selves.
• Early emotionality predicted later EF, and early EF predicted later emotionality.
• Both measures of EF (observed and BRIEF-P) were related to emotionality, supporting their interconnectedness.

Conclusions:

• Emotionality is a significant factor in early childhood EF development, showing reciprocal relationships.
• Findings support the use of both observational and standardized EF measures in research and applied settings for young children.
• This study provides the first evidence of the EF-emotionality link in early childhood, extending previous findings from older populations.