Examining Associations Between Preschool Executive Control and Adolescent Physical Activity, Day-to-Day Physical...

Executive control (EC) is a set of abilities that impacts adolescent health behaviors; however, research examining the influence of early EC on adolescent moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary behavior is limited. The purpose of this study is to evaluate longitudinal associations between preschool EC and adolescent activity metrics (ie, moderate to vigorous physical activity average, intraindividual day-to-day moderate to vigorous physical activity variability, and sedentary behavior average).

In a sample of 313 (mean age = 5.24 [0.02]) children, we investigated if preschool EC, measured by a 9-task battery and parent-report of child EC, predicted accelerometer-measured activity metrics during adolescence. Multilevel structural equation modeling using Markov Chain Monte Carlo procedures (ie, the Bayesian estimator in Mplus) was conducted for latent preschool EC and parent-reported EC difficulties predicting activity metrics separately (ie, 4 separate models). Sex assigned at birth, age, maternal education, and the income-to-needs ratio were included as control variables at the between-person level in all models.

Contrary to hypotheses, preschool EC was not significantly associated with activity metrics during adolescence, controlling for age, sex, maternal education, and the income-to-needs ratio. These findings were consistent across task-measured EC and parent-reported EC.

This study does not support an association between preschool EC and adolescent activity metrics. Thus, it is important to consider why these findings diverge from research suggesting that preschool EC is associated with other health behaviors in adolescence (eg, diet, sleep, and e-cigarette use). Other factors, such as characteristics of family, environment, and school contexts should be considered in future research.