The roles of mathematical language and emergent literacy skills in the longitudinal prediction of specific early numeracy skills.

Mathematical language (i.e., content-specific language used in mathematics) and emergent literacy skills predict children's broad numeracy development. However, little work has examined whether these domains predict development of individual numeracy skills (e.g., cardinality, number order). Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine longitudinal relations among mathematical language, emergent literacy skills, and specific early numeracy skills. Participants included 114 preschool children aged 3.12 to 5.26 years (M = 4.17 years, SD = 0.59). Specifically, this study examined whether mathematical language and three emergent literacy skills (print knowledge, phonological awareness, and general vocabulary) in the fall of preschool predicted 12 individual early numeracy skills in the spring, controlling for age, sex, rapid automatized naming, parent education, and autoregressors. Results indicated that mathematical language predicted development of most of the early numeracy skills (e.g., set comparison, numeral comparison, numeral identification), but findings for emergent literacy skills were not robust. Among the three emergent literacy skills, only print knowledge was a significant predictor of development in some specific numeracy skills, including verbal counting, number order, and story problems. Results highlight the important role of mathematical language in children's numeracy development and provide the foundation for future work in designing interventions to improve early numeracy skills.

Contributions of preschool behavioral self-regulation and social skills to growth in different domains of early math knowledge.

The current study explored the relative contribution of individual differences in children's behavioral self-regulation and social skills (often referred to as learning-related skills) in the fall of preschool to children's rate of growth in different domains of early math knowledge through the spring of kindergarten. Participants were 684 children (Mage = 57.6 months, SD = 3.8, at Time 1 [fall of preschool]; 48% female; 43% Black, 32% White, 13% Latine, 11% multiracial, and 1% Asian). All children were from families with low incomes and lived in the midwestern United States. The math domains of informal numeracy, formal numeracy, and math language were assessed at four time points: fall and spring of preschool and fall and spring of kindergarten. Contrary to expectations, we did not find that either learning-related skill positively predicted rate of growth in math knowledge or observe differential relations by math domain. Rather, the relative contribution of behavioral self-regulation and social skills in the fall of preschool to rate of growth in math knowledge followed similar patterns across all math domains: an early advantage for children with higher initial social skills that stayed consistent over time (i.e., a nonsignificant slope effect) and an early advantage for children with higher initial behavioral self-regulation that diminished over time (i.e., a negative slope effect).

The home numeracy environment and children's math skills: The moderating role of parents' math anxiety.

Evidence suggests that parents' math anxiety moderates the association between parents' help in mathematics homework and first graders' mathematics skills. Understanding whether similar associations are evident in younger children, in regard to the home numeracy environment (HNE) is essential, given that early math skills are strong predictors of later academic outcomes, and children's skills prior to kindergarten are fostered principally by their parents. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the association and interaction between the HNE and parents' math anxiety related to preschool children's numeracy performance. Participants were 121 parent-child dyads. Results from hierarchical multiple regression models demonstrated that parents' math anxiety and the HNE, included as separate predictors of children's math skills, were not statistically significant. However, the interaction between HNE and parents' math anxiety was statistically significant, such that the positive association between HNE and children's numeracy skills emerged when parents felt less anxious about math. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for parents' math anxiety when exploring the home influences on children's numeracy skills.

Home science interactions and their relation to children's science core knowledge in preschool.

A limited body of work has examined the nature and scope of young children's science-related activities outside of the school context, and thus there is little understanding or consensus regarding what comprises the home science environment (HSE; e.g., interactions, activities, resources) and how specific factors of the HSE relate to children's science performance. The two primary goals of this study were to (a) examine the factor structure of a parent-report measure of home science interactions and (b) evaluate how these factors relate to the science core knowledge of young children from families with low incomes. A total of 125 families with children aged 3 to 5 years (52 girls) participated in the study. Children were assessed on a measure of science core knowledge, and parents completed a brief questionnaire on their home science interactions that included questions pertaining to both home science disciplinary core idea (DCI) engagement and home science and engineering practice (SEP) engagement. Findings revealed that although separating home science interactions into distinct DCI and SEP factors represented the data well, the best overall representation of home science interactions was a one-factor model that included only home DCI engagement items. In addition, home DCI engagement was significantly predictive of children's science core knowledge over and above a large group of covariates, including children's age, race/ethnicity, sex, and performance on math, executive function, and vocabulary tasks as well as their parents' education.

Why do early mathematics skills predict later mathematics and reading achievement? The role of executive function.

A robust association between young children's early mathematical proficiency and later academic achievement is well established. Less is known about the mechanisms through which early mathematics skills may contribute to later mathematics and especially reading achievement. Using a parallel multiple mediator model, the current study investigated whether executive function (integration of working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility) can explain the relations between early mathematics skills and elementary school mathematics and reading achievement. Data in this longitudinal study were collected from 243 children during the last year of early childhood education and care (kindergarten ages 5 and 6 years), 1 year later in first grade, and 5 years later when the children were in fifth grade. Background variables (maternal education, age, sex, and immigrant status), kindergarten baseline skills, and mediating effects of first-grade mathematics, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and possible omitted variables were controlled. Results showed that first-grade executive function mediated the effects of kindergarten mathematics on fifth-grade mathematics and on reading achievement. These findings suggest that executive function may work as a mechanism that may help to explain the frequently found strong association between children's early mathematics skills and later mathematics and reading achievement.

Parents' math anxiety and mathematics performance of pre-kindergarten children.

Prior research demonstrates that individuals' math anxiety may be negatively related to their mathematics performance. However, little research has examined how caregivers' math anxiety is associated with children's mathematics performance prior to kindergarten. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between parents' math anxiety and the change in children's mathematics performance during the preschool year. Participants were 310 preschool-age children (155 female; 4.12-5.78 years of age, M = 5.20 years, SD = 0.29). Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that parents' math anxiety was significantly negatively related to change in children's mathematics performance during the pre-kindergarten year when controlling for fall mathematics performance and demographics. Moreover, multigroup path analyses revealed that this association did not differ for male versus female children.

Prekindergarten classroom language environments and children's vocabulary skills.

The number of adult words children hear and conversational turns they experience are key aspects of their language environments. The current study examined variability in language environments throughout 2 prekindergarten days and variability within and between classrooms for 44 children (Mage = 4.77 years) in 11 classrooms in the United States. In addition, the study examined to what extent prekindergarten language environments are associated with children's vocabulary skills. Language environments varied considerably throughout the prekindergarten day and between classrooms, although children within the same prekindergarten classrooms had generally similar experiences. Conversational turns were more robustly associated with children's vocabulary skills than were adult words heard even when only examining within-classroom variability. Implications for understanding prekindergarten classroom language experiences and their associations with vocabulary skills are discussed.

The effects of a nutrition education curriculum on improving young children's fruit and vegetable preferences and nutrition and health knowledge.

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the present study was to develop and evaluate a nutrition education curriculum to enhance young children's dietary behaviours and nutrition and health knowledge. DESIGN: A randomized controlled design was utilized. The intervention was designed to improve children's nutrition and health knowledge and preferences for fruits and vegetables through classroom lessons and activities, including direct instruction and tastings (implemented twice per week for 6 weeks). SETTING: The study took place in elementary schools in a Midwestern US state. SUBJECTS: One hundred and thirty-one 2nd grade children from ten classrooms (n 82 intervention, n 49 control) participated. RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses that adjusted se for clustering by classroom were used to test hypotheses. Children in the intervention condition demonstrated significantly higher scores on the nutrition and health survey (ß=0·47, P=0·001) and showed greater preferences for fruits and vegetables at post-test than the control group (ß=0·19, P=0·003). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that a short, 6-week intervention that aligns with educational standards has the ability to significantly enhance children's outcomes and thus may be a more feasible option for teachers to incorporate into their classrooms than what is currently available.

Predictive links among vocabulary, mathematical language, and executive functioning in preschoolers.

The primary aim of the current study was to identify the predictive relations of both vocabulary and mathematical language to executive functioning (EF) development using a sample of 558 preschool children (Mage = 57.75 months, SD = 3.71). Monthly family income ranged from $0 to $5539 (M = $1508.18, SD = $892.92). Among the sample, 44% of the children were African American, 32% were Caucasian, 12% were Hispanic, 11% were multiracial, and 1% were Asian. Although the primary study goal was to examine the extent to which language predicted EF development, a secondary aim was to explore whether EF also predicted vocabulary and mathematical language development. Regression analyses accounting for classroom-level variance and key covariates revealed that vocabulary was a significant predictor of EF at the end of preschool after accounting for fall EF. When mathematical language was added into the models, it was a significant predictor of EF, but vocabulary was no longer significant. Furthermore, EF predicted vocabulary and mathematical language. These findings suggest that young children's mathematical language skills are related to the acquisition of higher levels of EF during the preschool year and that there may be bidirectional associations between EF and mathematical language in preschool. Implications for future research are discussed.

Parental restrictive feeding with Latinx adolescents: Examining the role of adolescent effortful control.

The objective of this study was to test if youth effortful control, a general process of self-regulation that is rooted in temperament, uniquely predicts maternal restrictive feeding with Latinx adolescents above and beyond demographic/contextual factors, prior use of restrictive feeding, and common markers of obesity-proneness. The study sample consisted of Latinx fifth and sixth graders and their mothers residing in the Midwestern U.S. (N =  97 dyads). Effortful control, maternal restrictive feeding, demographic/contextual factors, and markers of obesity proneness were measured across two waves of data collection approximately one year apart. Results demonstrated an inverse relation between effortful control and maternal restrictive feeding after controlling for Time 1 demographic/contextual factors, maternal BMI, maternal restrictive feeding, youth BMI z-score, and perceived youth weight. Future directions include testing for the presence of an ironic feedback process such that Latinx mothers' attempts to overcome deficits in their children's self-regulation skills through restrictive feeding may be inadvertently maintaining the problem.

Relations between preschoolers' mathematical language understanding and specific numeracy skills.

Understanding of mathematical language is critical for numeracy skill development. However, prior research has focused exclusively on relations between mathematical language and numeracy skills, broadly measured. Thus, the aim of the current study was to explore more targeted relations between preschoolers' mathematical language and specific numeracy skills (e.g., cardinality, numeral comparison). The participants were 124 preschoolers aged 3.52 to 6.03 years (M = 4.78 years, SD = 0.53). Children were assessed on a battery of early numeracy skills and mathematical language as well as expressive vocabulary. Mixed-effects regression models were conducted, with school as a random effect and age, gender, and parental education as fixed effects covariates. Results indicated that mathematical language was significantly related to most numeracy skills, including verbal counting, one-to-one correspondence, numeral identification, cardinality, comparisons of sets and/or numerals, ordering numerals, and story problems. As hypothesized, mathematical language was not significantly related to either subitizing or formal addition because these skills are independent of general language ability. Importantly, mathematical language was generally more proximal to each of these numeracy skills than was general language. These results provide direction for future research, in particular for the development of more precise measures to identify children at risk for mathematics difficulties as well as the incorporation of focused mathematical language instruction within early mathematics interventions.

Combining a Kindergarten Readiness Summer Program with a Self-Regulation Intervention Improves School Readiness.

Self-regulation and academic skills in kindergarten are strong predictors of later achievement. However, many children enter kindergarten without adequate levels of these skills, often because of limited participation in early childhood education. The current study examined a kindergarten readiness summer program (Bridge to Kindergarten; B2K) that served children with no prior preschool experience. The first study goal was to examine the effects of adding a self-regulation intervention to the B2K program on children's self-regulation, math, and literacy. The second study goal was to compare changes in self-regulation, math, and literacy during the kindergarten transition period for children attending the B2K program with the intervention to expected development. Results from a randomized trial indicated that children who participated in the B2K program that included the self-regulation intervention experienced more gains in self-regulation relative to children who participated in the B2K program alone. There were no significant effects on math or literacy at the end of the program. However, when examining change during the kindergarten transition period, participation in the B2K program with the self-regulation intervention was associated with improved growth in self-regulation, math, and literacy into the fall of kindergarten compared to expected development. Collectively, the findings suggest a kindergarten readiness summer program that incorporates a self-regulation intervention leads to improved school readiness in children at higher risk for later school difficulties.

Foundations of mathematics and literacy: The role of executive functioning components.

The current study investigated the relations between the three cognitive processes that comprise executive functioning (EF)-response inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility-and individual components of mathematics and literacy skills in preschool children. Participants were 125 preschool children ranging in age from 3.12 to 5.26years (M=4.17years, SD=0.58). Approximately 53.2% were female, and the sample was predominantly Caucasian (69.8%). Results suggest that the components of EF may be differentially related to the specific components of early mathematics and literacy. For mathematics, response inhibition was broadly related to most components. Working memory was related to more advanced mathematics skills that involve comparison or combination of numbers and quantities. Cognitive flexibility was related to more conceptual or abstract mathematics skills. For early literacy, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility were related to print knowledge, and working memory was related only to phonological awareness. None of the EF components was related to vocabulary. These findings provide initial evidence for better understanding the ways in which EF components and academic skills are related and measured. Furthermore, the findings provide a foundation for further study of the components of each domain using a broader and more diverse array of measures.

Early cumulative risk and outcomes in adolescence and adulthood: The role of executive function and behavioral regulation.

This study examined the extent to which early cumulative risk predicts a range of behavioral and psychological outcomes (i.e., depression, future orientation, risky behavior, educational attainment, and socioeconomic outcomes) measured at ages 15 and 26 and whether executive function (EF) and/or behavioral regulation mediated and/or moderated these associations. Data for this study came from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development and included a sample of 1,364 participants (52% male) born in 1991 and followed through age 26. Results indicated that early cumulative risk was related to depression and risky behavior at age 15 as well as depression, income, future orientation, and educational attainment at age 26. Furthermore, both EF and behavioral regulation mediated relations among cumulative risk and academic achievement at age 15 and between cumulative risk and income and educational attainment at age 26. Finally, three significant interactions emerged for age 15 outcomes, indicating that EF and behavioral regulation may change relations between cumulative risk and depression, reading, and future orientation. Implications for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Factor structure of school readiness skills: conceptual vs. statistical distinctions.

Introduction: School readiness skills are a broad set of abilities that children develop in early childhood that support achievement once they enter formal schooling. Three components of school readiness skills are of focus in the current study: executive function (EF), language/literacy, and mathematics. The current study examines to what extent 13 direct assessments of these skills statistically align with theoretical models for distinct construct- and timepoint-specific latent factors. Methods: The sample included 684 children (52.34% male; 42% Black/African American; Mage = 4.80 years in the fall of prekindergarten) assessed in the fall and spring of the prekindergarten year. Results: Factor analyses revealed the most statistical support for a model with a latent random intercept across timepoints and constructs, along with timepoint-specific latent factors in the fall and spring of prekindergarten (independent of the random intercept). The timepoint-specific latent factors primarily consisted of early literacy and mathematics assessments. Discussion: These findings challenge commonly held practices of creating construct-specific latent factors in early childhood research and, to a lesser extent, timepoint-specific latent factors without consideration of the substantial shared variance across different constructs and timepoints. Implications for the factor structure and developmental theory of school readiness skills are considered, as well as practical considerations for future research.

Corrigendum: Moving beyond dosage and adherence: a protocol for capturing dimensions of active child engagement as a measure of fidelity for social-emotional learning interventions.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1014713.].

Examining longitudinal associations between internalizing problems, body mass index, and language during childhood.

The current study examines the extent to which associations between internalizing problems, body mass index (BMI), and language skills from early (36 months) to late childhood (fifth grade) are due to relatively stable between-child differences, time-specific correlations, or cross-lagged paths. Data from the NICHD study, Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364) were used. Results showed that internalizing problems and language are significantly and negatively correlated due to relatively stable between-child differences, with some evidence of positive cross-lagged paths, where better language at 36 months, 54 months, and third grade predicted more internalizing problems at the subsequent timepoint, and more internalizing problems at third grade predicted better language at fifth grade. Time-specific associations for BMI showed a negative correlation with language at 36 months and a positive correlation with internalizing problems at 54 months only. Additionally, higher internalizing at third grade predicted higher BMI at fifth grade, though the association was small and no other cross-lagged paths between internalizing and BMI emerged. These findings suggest that previous research documenting cross-lagged associations between BMI and internalizing problems, and between language and internalizing problems may be biased due to between child differences not fully controlled for in prior models. Implications for understanding these key aspects of youth's healthy development are considered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining Associations Between Food Insecurity, Inhibitory Control, and Body Mass Index in Preschoolers.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines relations between food insecurity, inhibitory control, and body mass index (BMI) in early childhood. METHOD: The sample comes from an evaluation of a state-funded prekindergarten program and includes 126 children (mean age = 4.73 yrs, female = 42%) from families with low incomes. Parents reported on their child's food insecurity. Child inhibitory control was assessed using a performance-based task, and children's height and weight were objectively collected at the same time as the inhibitory control assessment. A regression model was used to test whether inhibitory control moderated the association between food insecurity and BMI. The model included a large battery of covariates and adjusted for clustering at the classroom level. Ad hoc analyses were conducted to examine the robustness of findings to different conceptualizations of food insecurity based on the US Department of Agriculture's categories for severity. RESULTS: A significant interaction revealed that inhibitory control moderated the association between food insecurity and children's BMI percentile. Investigation of the simple slopes suggested that greater food insecurity was related to a higher BMI percentile among children who demonstrated stronger inhibitory control. In addition, results from ad hoc analyses examining categories of food insecurity indicated that experiencing very low food security was also related to a higher BMI among children with average and strong inhibitory control. CONCLUSION: This study makes a unique contribution to the existing literature by examining relations among food insecurity, inhibitory control, and BMI during a critical period in children's physical and brain development. Findings have implications for public health efforts to address childhood obesity among populations with low incomes.

Conceptualizing the factor structure of parents' math anxiety and associations with children's mathematics skills.

There is a growing literature examining the association between parents' math anxiety and children's mathematics skills. Previous research has considered parents' math anxiety as a unidimensional construct that primarily focused on parents' experiences doing mathematics themselves. However, this research did not account for parents' experiences when doing mathematics with their children. Thus, there were two goals of the present study: (1) to identify the structure of parents' math anxiety when considering context-dependent situations, and (2) to determine whether parental math anxiety was related to children's early numeracy skills. We conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyses using a sample of 155 preschool children (Mage  = 4.20 years, SD = 0.71; 51% female). The best fitting model of parents' math anxiety was a bifactor model, suggesting that parents' math anxiety was best conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. However, structural equation models showed parent math anxiety was not a significant predictor of children's numeracy performance. These findings provide a foundation for understanding parents' math anxiety as multidimensional and raise questions about potential mechanisms that may explain prior work finding mixed relations between math anxiety and children's numeracy performance.