Hendry, A, Gibson, SP, Davies, C orcid.org/0000-0001-9347-7905 et al. (3 more authors) (2022) Not all babies are in the same boat: Exploring the effects of socioeconomic status, parental attitudes, and activities during the 2020 COVID‐19 pandemic on early Executive Functions. Infancy, 27 (3). pp. 555-581. ISSN 1525-0008
Abstract
Early executive functions (EFs) lay the foundations for academic and social outcomes. In this parent-report study of 575 UK-based 8- to 36 month olds (218 followed longitudinally), we investigate how variation in the home environment before and during the 2020 pandemic relates to infants’ emerging EFs. Parent-infant enriching activities were positively associated with infant Cognitive Executive Function (CEF) (encompassing inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility). During the most-restrictive UK lockdown—but not subsequently—socioeconomic status (SES) was positively associated with levels of parent-infant enriching activities. Parents who regard fostering early learning, affection, and attachment as important were more likely to engage in parent-infant enriching activities, yet there was no significant pathway from parental attitudes or SES to CEF via activities. Infant screen use was negatively associated with CEF and Regulation. Screen use fully mediated the effect of SES on CEF, and partially mediated the effect of SES on regulation. Parental attitudes toward early learning, affection, and attachment did not significantly influence screen use. These results indicate that although parental attitudes influence the development of early EFs, interventions targeting attitudes as a means of increasing enriching activities, and thus EF are likely to be less effective than reducing barriers to engaging in enriching activities.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Infancy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Congress of Infant Studies. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures & Societies (Leeds) > Linguistics & Phonetics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) ES/V004085/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2022 13:23 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:54 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/infa.12460 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:183272 |