TY - JOUR
T1 - Hot and cool dimensionality of executive function
T2 - Model invariance across age and maternal education in preschool children
AU - the School Readiness Research Consortium
AU - Montroy, Janelle J.
AU - Merz, Emily C.
AU - Williams, Jeffrey M.
AU - Landry, Susan H.
AU - Johnson, Ursula Y.
AU - Zucker, Tricia A.
AU - Assel, Michael
AU - Taylor, Heather B.
AU - Lonigan, Christopher J.
AU - Phillips, Beth M.
AU - Clancy-Menchetti, Jeanine
AU - Barnes, Marcia A.
AU - Eisenberg, N.
AU - Spinrad, T.
AU - Valiente, Carlos
AU - de Villiers, Jill
AU - de Villiers, P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The research reported here was partially supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A090212, and R32B110007 to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. This work was also supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), P01 HD048497 (Preschool Curricula: Outcomes and Developmental Processes) and HD060292, and from the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (90SC0041). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education, NICHD, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.☆ The research reported here was partially supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A090212, and R32B110007 to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. This work was also supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), P01 HD048497 (Preschool Curricula: Outcomes and Developmental Processes) and HD060292, and from the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families ( 90SC0041). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education, NICHD, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - The structure of executive function (EF), as it pertains to distinct “hot” (affectively salient) and “cool” (affectively neutral) dimensions, in early childhood is not well understood. Given that the neural circuitry underlying EF may become increasingly differentiated with development and enriched experiences, EF may become more dissociable into hot and cool factors with age and advantaged socioeconomic circumstances. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to compare a multidimensional hot and cool EF model with a unidimensional model in early childhood, and to investigate model invariance across age and maternal education. Participants were 1900 children (2–5 years of age) from socioeconomically diverse families in an urban area in the southern United States. We aggregated data from four previously collected studies that included EF tasks, thus this study includes secondary data analysis. We tested model fit across (1) children older and younger than 4 years of age and (2) higher (college experience) versus lower (no college) maternal education. Results indicated that a two-factor hot and cool EF model provided the best fit to the data across all groups. Although the number of factors was invariant, only partial metric invariance was met for age, suggesting that how certain tests represent EF changes with age. For maternal education, partial scalar invariance was met, with higher maternal education associated with higher scores on certain EF tasks. Findings with this large sample suggest that EF includes two factors characterized as hot and cool. However, the study raises questions about model invariance, particularly across age.
AB - The structure of executive function (EF), as it pertains to distinct “hot” (affectively salient) and “cool” (affectively neutral) dimensions, in early childhood is not well understood. Given that the neural circuitry underlying EF may become increasingly differentiated with development and enriched experiences, EF may become more dissociable into hot and cool factors with age and advantaged socioeconomic circumstances. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to compare a multidimensional hot and cool EF model with a unidimensional model in early childhood, and to investigate model invariance across age and maternal education. Participants were 1900 children (2–5 years of age) from socioeconomically diverse families in an urban area in the southern United States. We aggregated data from four previously collected studies that included EF tasks, thus this study includes secondary data analysis. We tested model fit across (1) children older and younger than 4 years of age and (2) higher (college experience) versus lower (no college) maternal education. Results indicated that a two-factor hot and cool EF model provided the best fit to the data across all groups. Although the number of factors was invariant, only partial metric invariance was met for age, suggesting that how certain tests represent EF changes with age. For maternal education, partial scalar invariance was met, with higher maternal education associated with higher scores on certain EF tasks. Findings with this large sample suggest that EF includes two factors characterized as hot and cool. However, the study raises questions about model invariance, particularly across age.
KW - Confirmatory factor analysis
KW - Early childhood
KW - Executive function
KW - Socioeconomic status
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.06.011
DO - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.06.011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85069613716
SN - 0885-2006
VL - 49
SP - 188
EP - 201
JO - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
JF - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
ER -