1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«[T]he primary goal of this report is to examine the interactions between family SES [socioeconomic status] and the quality of early maternal behavior in the prediction of child subsequent EF [executive functioning] performance.» (p. 432)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«A total of 114 middle-class mother–child dyads (68 girls and 46 boys) living in a large Canadian metropolitan area [in the province of Quebec] participated in this study. [...] The mother–child dyads took part in two home visits, when children were 1 year [...] and 3 years of age [...].» (p. 437-438)

Instruments :
Questionnaire
Grille d’observation

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«[T]he results [suggest] that important differences may exist between the developmental processes subsuming different dimensions of EF. When child language was controlled for, three of the four interactions found remained significant, but their magnitudes decreased and one became nonsignificant. [W]hile family SES was related to both dimensions of EF, the quality of maternal behavior showed direct relations to conflict EF only. This appeared to be a robust phenomenon, given that it was replicated across almost all domains of maternal behavior. [T]he near-zero relations we found between maternal behavior and child impulse control, if not complemented by moderation analyses, could have suggested the lack of a true relation between maternal behavior and impulse control. [T]he results found here suggest a protective effect of high-quality parenting against the disadvantage normally associated with lower SES with respect to child EF. Indeed, results suggested that when mothers were responsive to their infants’ positive signals, responsive to their signals of emotional distress, and/or were often physically close and affectionate to them, infants from the relatively less affluent families in this sample caught up with their more advantaged counterparts and grew up to show similar impulse control performance at 3 years. However, the same children exposed to low-quality maternal behaviors appeared to perform the worst.» (p. 449-450)