Associations between specific components of executive control and eating behaviors in adolescence: A study using objective and subjective measures.

A growing literature suggests that executive control (EC; also known as "executive functioning" or "EF") in adolescence may play an important role in the development of key health behaviors, including eating behaviors. However, existing literature has significant limitations in the conceptualization and measurement of EC. The current study aims to address these limitations by employing a multidimensional approach to conceptualizing and measuring adolescent EC, including both objective and subjective measures covering multiple components of EC, and examining links with specific eating behaviors. A community sample of adolescents (N = 208; mean age = 14.5 years) completed a battery of performance-based neuropsychological tasks assessing specific components of EC (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control, flexible shifting), a norm-referenced questionnaire covering problems with specific components of EC in daily life, and a measure assessing key eating behaviors (i.e., uncontrolled eating, emotional eating, cognitive restraint). Objectively-measured adolescent working memory was significantly and uniquely associated with cognitive restraint, with stronger working memory associated with less cognitive restraint. No other associations between performance-based EC tasks and eating behaviors were found. In contrast, using subjective reports of EC, problems with inhibitory control were associated with greater uncontrolled eating, and problems with flexible shifting were associated with greater emotional eating. The results suggest links between specific aspects of EC and specific eating behaviors in adolescence, as well as the potential importance of context for understanding the role of EC in eating behavior. Given evidence that EC is modifiable, the findings have potential implications for novel interventions addressing eating behaviors by targeting EC.

The effect of sleep deprivation and restriction on mood, emotion, and emotion regulation: three meta-analyses in one.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: New theory and measurement approaches have facilitated nuanced investigation of how sleep loss impacts dimensions of affective functioning. To provide a quantitative summary of this literature, three conceptually related meta-analyses examined the effect of sleep restriction and sleep deprivation on mood, emotion, and emotion regulation across the lifespan (i.e. from early childhood to late adulthood). METHODS: A total of 241 effect sizes from 64 studies were selected for inclusion, and multilevel meta-analytic techniques were used when applicable. RESULTS: There was a moderate, positive effect of sleep loss on negative mood (g = 0.45), which was stronger for studies with younger samples, as well as a large, negative effect of sleep loss on positive mood (g = -0.94). For negative mood only, studies that used total sleep deprivation had larger effect sizes than studies that restricted sleep. After correcting for publication bias, a modest but significant negative effect for sleep loss on emotion (g = -0.11) was found; the valence of emotional stimuli did not change the direction of this effect, and type of sleep manipulation was also not a significant moderator. Finally, sleep restriction had a small, negative effect on adaptive emotion regulation (g = -0.32), but no significant impact on maladaptive emotion regulation (g = 0.14); all studies on adaptive emotion regulation were conducted with youth samples. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep loss compromises optimal affective functioning, though the magnitude of effects varies across components. Findings underscore the importance of sleep for healthy affective outcomes.

Individual differences in the effects of child sleep problems on early executive functioning.

Sleep is a critical health behavior with important implications for child development. This chapter discusses the effects of sleep problems on early child executive functioning (EF), with an emphasis on individual differences that might moderate this relationship. Specifically, we (1) provide a brief background on sleep and EF in early childhood; (2) review literature on the association between sleep and EF; (3) review literature on individual differences in the effects of sleep problems on EF; (4) offer recommendations for future research on moderators of the sleep-EF association, and (5) briefly describe an ongoing study examining the moderators of the sleep-EF association within a longitudinal study from pregnancy to preschool.

Attachment security buffers the HPA axis of toddlers growing up in poverty or near poverty: Assessment during pediatric well-child exams with inoculations.

Poverty is associated with poor physical and emotional development. Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis is argued to be one of the pathways through which poverty acts on these outcomes. While studies of school-aged children have found some evidence for this, there is little evidence for this hypothesis early in development. This may be, in part, because for very young children, the security of their attachment relationships with parents moderates the impact of poverty on HPA axis functioning. The current study investigated the relations between family income as a percentage of the federal poverty limit (FPL), salivary cortisol and attachment (Attachment Q-sort) during well-child checkups with inoculations in 177 toddlers between 12- and 22-months of age. Approximately half of the toddlers were in families living below 150% FPL, with 47% of these classified as securely attached, compared to 72% of toddlers in families living above 150% FPL. Cortisol levels increased in response to the inoculation and this did not differ by poverty or attachment security. Overall, however, beginning at clinic arrival toddlers in families living below 150% FPL who had an insecure attachment had significantly higher cortisol compared to toddlers living in poverty or near poverty with secure attachments. This finding held when we removed toddlers with high levels of negative life events in their families and primary caregivers who exceeded the screening cutoff for depressive symptoms. Thus, attachment was a significant moderator of the association between poverty and HPA axis activity, with significant implications for screening and referral of caregiving dyads at risk.