The development of episodic foresight in preschoolers: the role of socioeconomic status, parental future orientation, and family context

Abstract

Episodic foresight (EF) refers to the ability to anticipate future states of the self. Despite almost two decades of research, no studies explored how family context variables relate to the development of this ability. The objectives of this study were to explore the association of socioeconomic status (SES), parental consideration of future consequences (CFC), and family environment quality on the development of episodic foresight and to compare the magnitude of the effects of these same variables on delay of gratification and planning. Sixty-four dyads composed by 4-year-old Uruguayan children and their main caregiver participated in the study. Children were administered experiments on episodic foresight, delay of gratification, planning, and receptive language. Parents reported socioeconomic status, family environment, and their consideration of future consequences. Even though parents' limit setting was associated to higher EF in children and parental CFC-I was a predictor in multiple regression analysis, these effects ceased to be significant when controlled by child's receptive language and caregiver education, being these the main predictors of EF. Results also indicate that SES significantly distinguishes the performance in future-oriented skills and language, being the magnitude of the effect higher for EF in comparison with planning and delay of gratification. This study supports that EF is related to SES to a greater extent than other variables traditionally assessed in studies of poverty and child development. We discuss implications of low SES and language skills in the light of EF development and immediate-oriented behavior in contexts of deprivation.

Consideración de las consecuencias futuras: propiedades psicométricas, distribución geográfica y asociación con el consumo de sustancias en una muestra representativa de Montevideo, Uruguay

“…Respecto al tercer objetivo, analizar la distribución territorial de las puntuaciones en CCF, encontramos evidencia mixta al respecto a que las personas de menor nivel socioeconómico presentan mayor orientación hacia el presente. Los resultados sugieren que los dos grupos zonales de menor educación y menor valor de vivienda presentan menores puntuaciones en todas las puntuaciones de CCF, especialmente en CCF-F. Esto replica lo ya fue reportado por Vásquez-Echeverría et al (2019), en una muestra más reducida de padres de Montevideo. Sin embargo, el ordenamiento de las puntuaciones de CCF por grupo zonal no es estrictamente jerárquico ni consecutivo y no se encontraron diferencias significativas en los análisis post-hoc entre los grupos (incluido el de menor nivel socioeconómico).…”