Associations Between Adolescent Food Environments and Dietary Intake.

Objective: To examine aspects of the home and neighborhood food environment as predictors of adolescent diet.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Research laboratory in Nebraska.

Children's arithmetic strategy use trajectories: Exploring the roles of executive functions and sociodemographic characteristics.

Although young children often use counting to solve arithmetic problems, over time they move toward more efficient strategies such as direct retrieval and decomposition. Strategy selection has longitudinal associations with children's math achievement. Existing research indicates that children's executive functions (EFs) support inhibiting unnecessary strategies and adaptively switching between strategies.

Associations between middle childhood executive control aspects and adolescent substance use and externalizing and internalizing problems.

This study examines the degree to which two middle childhood executive control aspects, working memory and combined inhibitory control/flexible shifting, predict adolescent substance use and externalizing and internalizing problems. Participants were 301 children (ages 3-6 years; 48.2% male) recruited from a Midwestern city in the United States and followed into adolescence (ages 14-18 years).

Exploring the Interaction Between Preschool Executive Control and Caregiver Emotion Socialization in Predicting Adolescent Weight Trajectories.

There is a critical need for research examining how neural vulnerabilities associated with obesity, including lower executive control, interact with family factors to impact weight trajectories across adolescence. Utilizing a longitudinal design, the present study investigated caregivers' emotion socialization practices as a moderator of the association between preschool executive control and adolescent body mass index (BMI) trajectories. Participants were 229 youth (M = 5.

The Longitudinal Contributions of Preschool Executive Functions and Early Math Abilities to Arithmetic Skills in Elementary School.

Executive functions (EFs) are linked to children's overall math performance, although few studies have considered the joint role of prior math abilities for specific math subskills, such as arithmetic. The current study examined the longitudinal contributions of preschool EFs and early math abilities to children's accuracy and reaction time on arithmetic problems. Two hundred and eighty-three children completed EF and numeracy assessments at 5.

Differential associations of maternal behavior to preschool boys' and girls' executive function.

Boys are more sensitive to environmental factors like parental behavior, an important predictor of executive function. This study examined whether the interaction between child sex and maternal behavior was associated with children's executive function in a manner consistent with the vulnerability or differential susceptibility model. Participants were 146 36-month-old children and their mothers.

Early executive control buffers risk for adolescent psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a global impact on youth mental health, and there is a critical need for research examining individual factors that contribute to increased psychopathology during the pandemic. The current study explored whether executive control (EC) abilities in early childhood interact with COVID-related stress to attenuate risk for adolescent psychopathology during the first 6 months of the pandemic.

Methods: Participants were 337 youth (49% female) living in a small midwestern city in the United States.

Does preschool executive control mediate the impact of early environmental unpredictability and deprivation on the general factor of psychopathology a decade later?

Background: Although deprivation has been consistently shown to increase risk for psychopathology through impaired executive control, the unique effects of other dimensions of early adversity, such as unpredictability, on executive control development are poorly understood. The current study evaluated whether deprivation and/or unpredictability early in life have unique effects on the general factor of psychopathology through impaired preschool executive control.

Methods: Participants included 312 children (51% female) oversampled for greater sociodemographic risk.

Empirical support for a dual process model of the p-factor: Interaction effects between preschool executive control and preschool negative emotionality on general psychopathology.

Recent work indicates that a general factor, often referred to as the p-factor, underlies nearly all forms of psychopathology. Although the criterion validity and utility of this general factor have been well supported, questions remain about the substantive meaning of the p-factor. The purpose of the present longitudinal study was to empirically test the hypothesis that the p-factor reflects dysregulation arising from a combination of high dispositional negative emotionality and low executive control.

Preschool Executive Control, Temperament, and Adolescent Dietary Behaviors.

Background: Child temperament styles characterized by increased emotionality or pleasure seeking may increase risk for less healthful eating patterns, while strong executive control (EC) may be protective. The interaction of these characteristics with longitudinal outcomes has not yet been examined.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the association of preschool temperament and EC, as well as their interaction with adolescent eating.

Executive control throughout elementary school: Factor structure and associations with early childhood executive control.

This study examined the factor structure of executive control throughout elementary school, as well as associations between executive control abilities in preschool and elementary school. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of executive control development in a community sample of children (N = 294; 53% female, 47% male) oversampled for low family income (25.4% below poverty line; Mincome = $46,638; SD = $33,256).

Exploring the interplay of dopaminergic genotype and parental behavior in relation to executive function in early childhood.

Child genotype is an important biologically based individual difference conferring differential sensitivity to the effect of parental behavior. This study explored dopaminergic polygenic composite parental behavior interactions in relation to young children's executive function. Participants were 135 36-month-old children and their mothers drawn from a prospective cohort followed longitudinally from pregnancy.

Associations Between Preschool Sleep Problems and Observed Dimensions of Elementary Classroom Engagement.

Sleep has clear importance for academic success. However, most research in this area has focused on older children and adolescents and has used narrow measures of academic achievement, overlooking the importance of early sleep problems in shaping children's classroom behaviors that support academic success. Using a community sample ( = 276, 50% female), the current study examined associations between parent-reported preschool sleep problems ( = 3.

Associations of childhood executive control with adolescent cigarette and E-cigarette use: Tests of moderation by poverty level.

Background: Adolescent cigarette smoking has continued to decline, whereas electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has increased dramatically among youth. Nicotine use in any form, even at low levels, during adolescence can have adverse consequences, particularly for low-income individuals. To elucidate potential early intervention targets, this study examined childhood executive control (EC), a set of cognitive processes for directing attention and behavior, in relation to adolescent cigarette and e-cigarette onset, testing for differential prediction by poverty level.

Executive Control in Early Childhood as an Antecedent of Adolescent Problem Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study with Performance-based Measures of Early Childhood Cognitive Processes.

Identifying childhood cognitive processes that predict adolescent problem behaviors can help guide understanding and prevention of these behaviors. In a community sample of 313 youth recruited in a small Midwestern city between 2006 and 2012 (49% male, 64% European American), executive control and foundational cognitive abilities were assessed at age 5 in a lab setting with performance-based measures. In adolescence, youth provided self-report of problem behaviors in surveys administered annually between ages 14 and 16.

Associations between specific components of executive control and eating behaviors in adolescence: A study using objective and subjective measures.

A growing literature suggests that executive control (EC; also known as "executive functioning" or "EF") in adolescence may play an important role in the development of key health behaviors, including eating behaviors. However, existing literature has significant limitations in the conceptualization and measurement of EC. The current study aims to address these limitations by employing a multidimensional approach to conceptualizing and measuring adolescent EC, including both objective and subjective measures covering multiple components of EC, and examining links with specific eating behaviors.

Associations of Early Socio-familial Stress with Maladaptive and Adaptive Functioning in Middle Childhood: Roles of Executive Control and Foundational Cognitive Abilities.

This study examined whether cognitive processes in preschool, conceptualized as a unitary construct of executive control (EC) as well as foundational cognitive abilities (FCA), predict both maladaptive and adaptive functioning in middle childhood and mediate associations between early childhood socio-familial stress and those functional outcomes. Performance-based, multidimensional, and age-appropriate measures of EC and FCA were collected in a laboratory setting from 313 preschool-age children at age 5, along with questionnaire data from children and their parents on three dimensions of early socio-familial stress and parent smoking. Parent, teacher, and child self-report data on 285 of these children were obtained when they were in grade 3 or 4.

Socioeconomic status and executive function in early childhood: Exploring proximal mechanisms.

Although there is substantial evidence that socioeconomic status (SES) predicts children's executive function (EF), the mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood. This study tested the utility of two theories proposed to link SES to children's EF: the family stress model and the family investment model. Data came from the Midwestern Infant Development Study (N = 151).

Resilience in Extremely Preterm/Extremely Low Birth Weight Kindergarten Children.

Objectives: Research on developmental outcomes of preterm birth has traditionally focused on adverse effects. This study investigated the prevalence and correlates of resilience in 146 extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight (EPT/ELBW) children (gestational age <28 weeks and/or birth weight <1000 g) attending kindergarten and 111 term-born normal birth weight (NBW) controls.

Methods: Adaptive competence (i.

Executive Control and Adolescent Health: Toward A Conceptual Framework.

Executive control is a set of cognitive abilities that may impact a variety of adolescent health behaviors and outcomes; however, research on executive control as a contributor to the physical health of youth is relatively limited. Therefore, the current article explores the possible role of executive control in adolescent health by reviewing relevant literature and proposing a conceptual framework to guide future research in this area. The development of executive control from preschool through adolescence is described, with particular attention to executive control in the unique health context of adolescence.

Does early maternal responsiveness buffer prenatal tobacco exposure effects on young children's behavioral disinhibition?

Children with prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE) exhibit early self-regulatory impairments, reflecting a life-course persistent propensity toward behavioral disinhibition. Previously, we demonstrated the protective role of parental responsiveness for reducing the risk of exposure-related disruptive behavior in adolescence. Here, we expanded this line of inquiry, examining whether responsiveness moderates the relation of PTE to a broader set of behavioral disinhibition features in early childhood and testing alternative diathesis-stress versus differential susceptibility explanatory models.

Associations between different components of executive control in childhood and sleep problems in early adolescence: A longitudinal study.

Research has examined the impact of poor sleep on executive control and related abilities, but the inverse relationship has received less attention. Youth completed objective executive control tasks in childhood ( = 208;  = 10.03; 50.

Simians in the Shape School: A comparative study of executive attention.

Executive functions (EF) have been studied extensively in children and adults. However, EF tasks for young children can be difficult to administer and interpret. Espy (1997, Developmental Neuropsychology, 13, 495-499) designed the Shape School task to measure inhibition and switching in preschool-aged children.