Pakistani preschoolers’ number of older siblings and cognitive skills: Moderations by home stimulation and gender.

Rathore, Mansoor Aslam; Armstrong‐Carter, Emma; Siyal, Saima; Yousafzai, Aisha K.; Obradović, Jelena

doi:10.1037/fam0001018

Journal of Family Psychology

2023

DOI: 10.1037/fam0001018

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Pakistani preschoolers’ number of older siblings and cognitive skills: Moderations by home stimulation and gender.

Mansoor Aslam Rathore¹,

Emma Armstrong‐Carter²,

Saima Siyal³

et al.

Abstract: The present study examines the link between children’s number of older siblings and their cognitive development, as measured by executive function (EFs) skills and verbal skills (VIQ) in a sample of 1,302 4-year-old children (54% boys) living in rural Pakistan. Specifically, we investigate whether the links between the number of older siblings and preschoolers’ EFs and VIQ are moderated by preschoolers’ quality of home stimulation and gender. Multivariate regressions revealed that the number of older siblings … Show more

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Cited by 2 publications

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Early Family Experiences and Neural Activity in Rural Pakistani Children: The Differential Role of Gender

Lopera‐Perez,

Obradović,

Yousafzai

et al. 2024

Developmental Psychobiology

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Adversity within low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) poses severe threats to neurocognitive development, which can be partially mitigated by high‐quality early family experiences. Specifically, maternal scaffolding and home stimulation can buffer cognitive development in LMIC, possibly by protecting underlying neural functioning. However, the association between family experiences and neural activity remains largely unexplored in LMIC contexts. This study explored the relation of early family experiences to later cognitive skills and absolute gamma power (21–45 Hz), a neural marker linked to higher‐order cognitive skills. Drawing data from the PEDS trial, a longitudinal study in rural Pakistan, we examined maternal scaffolding at 24 months and home stimulation quality at 18 months as predictors of verbal IQ, executive functions, and absolute gamma at 48 months for 105 mother‐child dyads (52 girls). Maternal scaffolding interacted with gender to predict absolute gamma power, such that higher maternal scaffolding was related to higher gamma more strongly for girls. Maternal scaffolding also interacted with absolute gamma to predict executive functions, such that higher gamma was related to better executive functions only when maternal scaffolding was average to high. Individual differences in early family experiences may partially buffer the neural underpinnings of cognitive skills from adversity in LMIC.

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Early Family Experiences and Neural Activity in Rural Pakistani Children: The Differential Role of Gender

Lopera‐Perez,

Obradović,

Yousafzai

et al. 2024

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Executive functioning skills and their environmental predictors among pre‐school aged children in South Africa and The Gambia

Milosavljevic

Cook

Fadera

et al. 2023

Developmental Science

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Executive functions (EFs) in early childhood are predictors of later developmental outcomes and school readiness. Much of the research on EFs and their psychosocial correlates has been conducted in high‐income, minority world countries, which represent a small and biased portion of children globally. The aim of this study is to examine EFs among children aged 3–5 years in two African countries, South Africa (SA) and The Gambia (GM), and to explore shared and distinct predictors of EFs in these settings. The SA sample (N = 243, 51.9% female) was recruited from low‐income communities within the Cape Town Metropolitan area. In GM, participants (N = 171, 49.7% female) were recruited from the rural West Kiang region. EFs, working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC) and cognitive flexibility (CF), were measured using tablet‐based tasks. Associations between EF task performance and indicators of socioeconomic status (household assets, caregiver education) and family enrichment factors (enrichment activities, diversity of caregivers) were assessed. Participants in SA scored higher on all EF tasks, but children in both sites predominantly scored within the expected range for their age. There were no associations between EFs and household or familial variables in SA, except for a trend‐level association between caregiver education and CF. Patterns were similar in GM, where there was a trend‐level association between WM and enrichment activities but no other relationships. We challenge the postulation that children in low‐income settings have poorer EFs, simply due to lower socioeconomic status, but highlight the need to identify predictors of EFs in diverse, global settings.Research Highlights Assessed Executive Functioning (EF) skills and their psychosocial predictors among pre‐school aged children (aged 3–5 years) in two African settings (The Gambia and South Africa). On average, children within each setting performed within the expected range for their age, although children in South Africa had higher scores across tasks. There was little evidence of any association between socioeconomic variables and EFs in either site. Enrichment activities were marginally associated with better working memory in The Gambia, and caregiver education with cognitive flexibility in South Africa, both associations were trend‐level significance.

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Pakistani preschoolers’ number of older siblings and cognitive skills: Moderations by home stimulation and gender.

Cited by 2 publications

References 48 publications

Early Family Experiences and Neural Activity in Rural Pakistani Children: The Differential Role of Gender

Early Family Experiences and Neural Activity in Rural Pakistani Children: The Differential Role of Gender

Executive functioning skills and their environmental predictors among pre‐school aged children in South Africa and The Gambia

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