1. Child Cognitive Flexibility and Maternal Control: A First Step toward Untangling Genetic and Environmental Contributions.
- Author
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Thériault-Couture F, Matte-Gagné C, Dallaire S, Brendgen M, Vitaro F, Tremblay RE, Séguin JR, Dionne G, and Boivin M
- Subjects
- Humans, Child, Parenting, Cognition, Executive Function, Child Development
- Abstract
Executive functions (EF) play an essential role in many spheres of child development. Therefore, it is crucial to get a better understanding of their etiology. Using a genetic design that involved 934 twins (400 monozygotic), this study examined the etiology of cognitive flexibility, a component of EF, at 5 years of age and its phenotypic and etiological associations with maternal control. Cognitive flexibility was measured in a laboratory setting at 5 years of age using a well-known EF-task, i.e. the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS). Maternal control was measured using a self-report questionnaire. The univariate genetic model demonstrated that environmental factors mainly explained individual differences in preschoolers' performance on the DCCS task. A bivariate genetic model demonstrated that non-shared environmental mechanisms mainly explained the association ( r = .-13) between maternal control and children's performance on the DCCS task. This study represents a preliminary step toward a better understanding of the genetic and environmental contributions underlying the relation between parenting behaviors and children's EF.
- Published
- 2023
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