Early Childhood Executive Function Predicts Concurrent and Later Social and Behavioral Outcomes: A Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Preschool executive function (EF) is widely believed to support development across many domains of life. While it is established that EF predicts academic achievement, claims are also frequently made that it predicts social, health, and behavioral outcomes. These claims are often made on the basis of research assessing constructs that are related to but distinct from EF, such as self-control and self-regulation. The primary literature shows inconsistent patterns. We report a meta-analysis of relations between preschool EF in typically developing children and social, health, and behavioral outcomes measured concurrently, in middle childhood, and in adolescence (904 effect sizes, k = 125, n = 106,426). Preschool EF was related to several outcomes concurrently (prosociality, emotion regulation, lie understanding, lower body mass) and longitudinally (social competence, emotion understanding, peer acceptance, adaptive classroom behavior, lower externalizing behavior); however, effect sizes varied in magnitude and were smaller than those reported in a recent meta-analysis of self-regulation (Robson et al., 2020). Preschool EF was not related to internalizing behaviors or physical fitness. Meta-analysis of some longitudinal associations was precluded due to insufficient studies. Findings were not moderated by EF component (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). We did not find evidence that composite measures of EF were better predictors than individual indices. These results indicate that preschool EF, as commonly conceptualized and measured, may play a role in outcomes beyond academic achievement, but this role may be more limited than commonly thought. Interventions targeting preschool EF should be reevaluated in light of this evidence.

Examining Phronesis Models with Evidence from the Neuroscience of Morality Focusing on Brain Networks

“…Second, psychological functionalities associated with sensitivity to situational factors, such as empathy in the prosocial domain, which are correlated with the SN activity (Toller et al 2018), are also fundamental in generating prosocial motivation and behavior (Hardy 2006;Nasello & Triffaux 2023). Third, the executive functioning, which is based on the CEN at the neural level (Alexander et al 2021), is commonly involved in various cognitive processes, including general social cognition (Stucke & Doebel 2023). Finally, conceptual papers proposed that all these three psychological functionalities are central in collectively regulating moral and prosocial functioning (Hardy 2006;Romera et al 2019).…”