Date of Submission
2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Department Chair
Jessica Glass Kendorski Ph.D., NCSP, BCBA-D
First Advisor
Virginia Burks Salzer, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
George McCloskey, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Jessica Kendorski, Ph.D.
Abstract
Family environments function in a way determining that all children are expected to perform at certain levels based on their age and developmental stage. Academic tasks require using numerous executive skills simultaneously, sometimes making it challenging to pinpoint specific executive strengths and weaknesses. Understanding a child's challenges with executive control can provide insights into areas where they might benefit from extra help and support. The present study examined parents’ ratings of executive functions collected during the standardization of the MEFS-PR given the students’ ages and level of academic competence. The data used in this study were the parent ratings of children in the standardization sample used to create the MEFS-PR norm tables (n = 600). Parent ratings reflected perceptions of the frequency and effectiveness of their children's behaviors, indicating the extent of their executive capacities. This study examined the executive function patterns between students of varying ages and academic competence. Analyses looked at parent responses to all items in the 7 Self-Regulation Clusters and all items in the Self-Realization and Self-Determination Clusters of the MEFS. Results indicate that age and academic competence are systematically related to parent ratings of their children’s executive capacities. Most, but not all executive function clusters showed significance for the main effect of age. Strong significance was found for all executive function clusters when considering academic competence. While executive capacities get better with age, the growth is not as significant when compared to ratings of academic competence.
Recommended Citation
Davis, Matthew J., "Parent Assessment of Children's Executive Capacities" (2024). PCOM Psychology Dissertations. 635.
https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/psychology_dissertations/635