Parental scaffolding and cognitive development in early childhood: Insights from a dynamic systems perspective

Grounded in dynamic systems theory, which conceptualizes parent-child interactions as evolving systems of reciprocal influence over time, the main objective of this study was to examine which patterns of parent-child scaffolding in a problem-solving situation were associated with children's early cognitive development and to explore whether these patterns were influenced by prior child characteristics. A total of 193 mother-child dyads (109 girls) were observed during a number-image association task at 48 months. Children were predominantly White (95%) and of Canadian or European ethnic background. Three scaffolding phases were examined using the State Space Grid (SSG): modeling (problem-solving strategies are demonstrated by parents), guidance (characterized by shared participation in task execution), and fading (support is gradually withdrawn and greater initiative is shown by children). Only the fading phase was found to be associated with higher complex executive functioning (β = 0.30) and number knowledge (β = 0.42) 1 year later, at 60 months, controlling for prior child cognitive abilities. Furthermore, higher socioeconomic status, receptive vocabulary, and cognitive flexibility at 42 months were positively associated with fading. These findings highlight the importance of interactional processes that promote children's active participation in problem- solving for subsequent cognitive development.