1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The current longitudinal study set out to investigate linear and nonlinear intraindividual developmental patterns of change in child performance on tasks that involve different EF [executive functioning] skills between kindergarten and Grade 3, as well as the predictive role of earlier mother–child attachment security in these patterns of change.» (p. e169)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«Developmental improvement (significant rate of growth) was expected for all EF skills, along with a deceleration in the rate of growth (quadratic shape) for working memory skills. Given the scarcity of previous studies, specific hypotheses about the shape of the improvements in setshifting and inhibition skills could not be formulated. Furthermore, toddlers more securely attached to their mothers were expected to show consistently superior EF performance across time.» (p. e169)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The sample consisted of 106 mother–child dyads (46 boys and 60 girls) living in a large Canadian metropolitan area who were assessed between September 2005 and July 2015. […] Mothers were predominantly Caucasian (84% of the sample) and French speaking (79% of the sample).» (p. e169)

Instruments :
- Grille d’observation
- Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«Findings suggested that: (a) early elementary school is a period of significant developmental improvement in child EF, (b) child performance on different EF tasks shows distinct patterns of growth across time, and (c) early attachment security is generally associated with higher performance on EF tasks throughout early elementary school.» (p. e176) In fact, «[i]n line with emerging evidence suggesting that the affective quality of parent–child relationships may relate to individual differences in young children’s EF (Kraybill & Bell, 2013), the results showed that between-person variability in growth patterns of children’s EF was reliably associated with the quality of their earlier attachment relationships. First, children who were more securely attached to their mother on average between 15 months and 2 years showed superior performance on the [tested] tasks in kindergarten. The significant relation between attachment and child initial performance on three tasks measuring different EF skills appears to suggest that secure attachment relationships may promote young children’s global executive competence (and/or the skills or structures that subsume all EF skills), rather than have specific effects on particular EFs.» (p. e178)