The unique relevance of executive functions and self-regulation behaviors for understanding early childhood experiences and preschoolers\u27 outcomes in rural Pakistan

Performance-based measures of children\u27s executive functions (EFs) do not capture children\u27s application of these skills during everyday emotionally-laden and socially-mediated interactions. The current study demonstrates the value of using assessor report of self-regulation behaviors (inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement) in addition to EF tasks when studying early childhood experiences and development in a rural lower-middle-income country setting. In a sample of 1302 disadvantaged 4-year-olds living in rural Pakistan, we found that directly assessed EFs were significantly related to assessor observations of children\u27s inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement during a structured assessment protocol. However, EFs and two types of self-regulation behaviors demonstrated unique associations with children\u27s (1) contextual experiences, as indexed by family socio-economic resources, participation in parenting interventions, and children\u27s physical growth; and (2) age-salient developmental outcomes, as indexed by direct assessment of pre-academic skills and maternal report of prosocial behaviors and behavior problems. First, family wealth uniquely predicted only observed positive affect/engagement, whereas maternal education uniquely predicted only EFs. Second, children\u27s antecedent linear growth was a significant predictor of both EFs and positive affect/engagement, but exposure to an enhanced nutrition intervention during the first 2 years of life and preschoolers\u27 hair cortisol concentration were associated only with observed self-regulation behaviors. Finally, both EFs and observed positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted children\u27s pre-academic skills. In contrast, only assessors\u27 ratings of positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted maternal report of prosocial behaviors and only assessors\u27 ratings of inhibitory control uniquely predicted maternal report of behavioral problems

Biological sensitivity to context in Pakistani preschoolers: Hair cortisol and family wealth are interactively associated with girls\u27 cognitive skills

Many young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face heightened risk for experiencing environmental adversity, which is linked with poorer developmental outcomes. Children\u27s stress physiology can shed light on why children are differentially susceptible to adversity. However, no known studies have examined whether links between adversity and children\u27s development are moderated by children\u27s stress physiology in LMICs. The present study revealed significant interactive effects of hair cortisol concentrations, an index of chronic physiological stress regulation, and family wealth on preschoolers\u27 cognitive skills in rural Pakistan. In a sample of 535 4-year-old children (n = 342 girls), we found significant associations between family wealth and direct assessments of verbal intelligence, pre-academic skills, and executive functions only in girls with lower hair cortisol concentrations. Specifically, girls with lower cortisol concentrations displayed greater cognitive skills if they came from relatively wealthier families, but lower cognitive skills if they came from very poor families. There were no significant associations among boys. Results provide evidence of biological sensitivity to context among young girls in a LMIC, perhaps reflecting, in part, sex differences in daily experiences of environmental adversity