Alejandra Contreras

Topic

The Intergenerational Transmission of Executive Function

Department of Psychology

Date & location

• Thursday, April 18, 2024

• 1:00 P.M.

• Cornett Building, Room A228

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Ulrich Mueller, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria (Co-Supervisor)

• Dr. Mauricio Garcia-Barrera, Department of Psychology, UVic (Co-Supervisor) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Gina Harrison, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, University of Victoria 

Chair of Oral Examination

• Prof. Merrie Klazek, School of Music, UVic

   

Abstract

Introduction: Individual differences in executive function (EF) predict many developmental outcomes such as social understanding, academic achievement, and mental health. Therefore, factors that influence intraindividual differences in children’s EF have received considerable attention. Interestingly previous studies have shown an association between parental EF and children’s EF, suggesting that EF is intergenerational transmitted. Intergenerational transmission of EF has been explained as being due to genetic processes, social processes, or the interplay between both. Given the crucial role parents play on children’s early development, research has largely focused on the role of parenting practices have in children’s EF. However, the intergenerational transmission of EF has not received sufficient attention in the literature, and research on the relationship between parent EF and parenting practices in the transmission of EF is still limited. This master’s thesis aims to add to the literature on intergenerational transmission of EF through two different studies to evaluate the intergenerational transmission of EF through parenting practices. Study 1 is a cross-sectional study on the role of autonomy support in the intergenerational transmission of EF. Study 2 is a longitudinal study that examined the roles of parental sensitivity and mind-mindedness in the intergenerational transmission of EF through a multi-method approach.

Methods: Study 1. Parents of 2- to 6- year-old children (N = 188) completed ecologically valid measures of EF, and autonomy support. Hierarchical regressions, mediation and moderation models were conducted to predict children’s EF. Study 2. A total of 40 preschool-aged children and one of their biological parents from a mid-size city in Western Canada participated in the study. Children visited the lab three times at half-year intervals over the course of a year. Each time they completed five performance-based EF tasks, while parents reported on their EF problems through the BRIEF and their levels of mind-mindedness. Parent sensitivity was iv measured through a parent-child interaction at T1. Parental EF was assess through six performance-based tasks and a self-report on the BRIEF at a later time point. A series of multi level models were used to test the intergenerational transmission of EF.

Results: Study 1. Parental EF was associated with children’s EF w; autonomy support was identified as a significant predictor of children’s EF, above and beyond parental EF. Additionally, there was a significant interaction between different levels of autonomy support and parental EF, such that autonomy support emerged as a predictor of children’s EF at lower levels of parental EF. Study 2. Parental EF and parent mind-mindedness were significant predictors of children’s EF in the informant report models, but they were not significant predictors in the performance-based models. Parental sensitivity did not significantly predict children’s EF in either type of models. Furthermore, the mediation analysis revealed that parental EF problems influence children’s EF problems both directly and indirectly through mind mindedness, which acted as a partial mediator.

Conclusions: Across both studies, there was evidence to support the intergenerational transmission of EF, when EF is measured through informant report measures. In both studies, parents who report more EF problems tend to have children with more EF problems, too. The studies suggest that parenting practices play different roles in the intergenerational transmission of EF. On one hand, autonomy support plays a protective role for those families where parents have higher levels of EF problems. On the other hand, mind-mindedness was associated with higher levels of EF problems. The studies revealed a complex interplay between parental EF and different aspects of parenting. Interestingly, relations between parenting and children's EF were nonexistent when performance-based measures were used, suggesting that future research should investigate systematically the relations between different aspects of parenting and different ways of measuring children's EF.