Hanna Mulder|Josje Verhagen|Sanne H.G. van der Ven|Pauline Slot|Paul Leseman
Early Executive Function at Age Two Predicts Emergent Mathematics and Literacy at Age Five
Utrecht University|Utrecht University|Utrecht University|Utrecht University|Utrecht University
previous work shown individual differences executive function ef predictive academic skills preschoolers kindergartners older children across studies ef stronger predictor emergent mathematics literacy however research ef children age three scarce currently unknown whether ef assessed toddlerhood predicts emergent academic skills years later longitudinal study investigates whether early ef assessed two years predicts emergent academic skills five years examines furthermore whether early ef significantly stronger predictor emergent mathematics emergent literacy found previous work older children sample 552 children assessed various ef efprecursor tasks two years age five children performed several emergent mathematics literacy tasks structural equation modeling used investigate relationships early ef academic skills modeled latent factors results showed early ef age two significant relatively strong predictor emergent mathematics literacy age five controlling receptive vocabulary parental education home language predictive relations significantly stronger mathematics literacy verbal shortterm memory measure left indicator latent early ef construct findings show individual differences emergent academic skills prior entry formal education system traced back individual differences early ef toddlerhood addition results highlight importance task selection assessing early ef predictor later outcomes call studies elucidate mechanisms individual differences early ef precursors ef come