Sammy F. Ahmed

Longitudinal data were examined to test associations between teacher–student relationships and adult outcomes, as well as mechanisms underlying these associations. Results from the NICHD-SECCYD (N = 1,364; 52% male; 76% White; 13% Black; 6% Hispanic; 5% other; data collection took place in the United States beginning in 1991) revealed a complex set of findings. First, teacher–student conflict and closeness during early elementary school were associated with educational attainment, occupational prestige, arrest record, and risky behavior at age 26 (r = −.21–.17, ps < .01). Next, behavioral dysregulation during ­middle elementary school, but not executive function, mediated associations between teacher–student conflict and age 26 ­outcomes. Finally, behavioral dysregulation and end of high school functioning serially mediated associations between teacher–student conflict and adult outcomes. These findings showcase the relevance of teacher–student relationships for outcomes spanning two decades of development.

We leveraged nationally representative data from the Panel study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement (N = 3,562) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal study (N = 18,174), to chart the development of working memory, indexed via verbal forward and backward digit span task performance, from 3 to 19 years of age. Results revealed nonlinear growth patterns for forward and backward digit span tasks, with the most rapid growth occurring during childhood followed by a brief accelerated period of growth during early adolescence. We also found similar developmental trajectories on digit span task performance for males and females across the U.S. population. Together, this study highlights the relative importance of the childhood period for working memory development and provides researchers with a reference against which to compare the developmental changes of working memory in individual studies. From a practical perspective, clinicians and educators can also use this information to understand important periods of working memory growth using national developmental trends. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Executive functions (EF) are domain-general cognitive skills that predict foundational academic skills such as literacy and numeracy. However, less is known about the relation between EFs and science achievement. The nature of this relation might be explained by the theory of mutualism, which states that development is the result of complex and interacting processes, in which growth in one domain influences growth in another domain. The present study examined the bidirectional associations between science achievement and children's cognitive flexibility and working memory in a nationally representative sample of children in the United States (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 [ECLS-K:2011]; N = 18,174). Using random intercepts cross-lagged panel modeling, results revealed a heterogeneous pattern of associations between EF and science achievement, consistent with mutualism theory. Trait-like and construct stability emerged in the between-person and within-person estimates of EF and science. Cognitive flexibility and working memory in kindergarten each predicted science achievement in first grade. Science achievement at the beginning of first grade predicted cognitive flexibility at the end of first grade. There were also bidirectional associations between working memory and science achievement from the beginning to the end of the first grade year. Although effect sizes were small, findings reveal the complex interplay between EF and science achievement during early childhood and highlight a core tenet of mutualism theory-that small gains in academic and cognitive domains are positively associated with future skills and abilities within and across domains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study examined longitudinal associations between preschoolers' executive function (EF) and adult educational attainment, impulse control, and general health directly and through its cascading effects on childhood and adolescent EF using a large, national, and prospective longitudinal sample of participants. Data were drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD) and included a diverse sample (52% male at birth; 76% White; 13% Black; 6% Hispanic; and 5% other; 14.23 mean years of maternal education) of 1,364 participants born in 1991 and followed through age 26. Four main findings emerged. First, we observed significant bivariate relations between EF measured at 54 months and adult educational attainment (r = .36, p < .01), and impulse control (r = .11, p = .01). Second, early EF measured during preschool and childhood explained variance in adult educational attainment and impulse control above and beyond adolescent EF. Third, childhood EF mediated the association between preschool EF and adult educational attainment and impulse control but did not operate through adolescent EF. Finally, neither preschool EF nor EF measured at other developmental stages predicted health during adulthood. Together, these findings shed light on the direct and cascading influences of EF across development on important domains of adult functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).