Is preschool executive function causally related to academic achievement?
Is preschool executive function causally related to academic achievement?
复制标题
学前执行功能与学业成绩是否存在因果关系？
DOI：
10.1080/09297049.2011.578572
复制
发表时间：
2012
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Voegler-Lee,MaryE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Willoughby,MichaelT;Kupersmidt,JanisB;Voegler-Lee,MaryE
The primary objective of this study was to reevaluate the well-established result that preschoolers' performance on executive function tasks are positively associated with their performance on academic achievement tests. The current study replicated the previously established concurrent associations between children's performance on EF tasks and academic achievement tests. Specifically, children's performance on measures of inhibitory and motor control were positively associated with their performance on tests of reading, writing, and mathematics achievement (rs = .2−.5); moreover, although diminished in magnitude, most of these associations held up even after including an earlier measure of academic achievement as a covariate (rs = .1−.3). However, the application of an alternative analytic method, fixed effects analysis, a method that capitalizes on repeated measures data to control forall time stable measured and unmeasured covariates, rendered the apparent positive associations between executive function and academic achievement nonsignificant (rs = .0−.1). Taken together, these results suggest that the well-replicated association between executive function abilities and academic achievement may be spurious. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of utilizing analytic methods and research designs that facilitate strong causal inferences between executive function and academic achievement in early childhood, as well as the limitations of making curriculum development recommendations and/or public policy decisions based on studies that have failed to do so.
