Final Report Summary - AT-RISK PRESCHOOLERS (The Future of Preschoolers At Risk: The Mediational Role of Executive Functions on Effects of Maltreatment and Neglect on Pre-Academic Skills, and the Moderation of Family SES and Classroom Quality) Early exposure to maltreatment can disturb brain development and have dramatic consequences for school achievement (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010). Executive functions (EF), such as working memory, inhibitory control and attention shifting, have not been examined as mediators of effects of these risks on pre-academic skills, although there is evidence that the development of executive functions is impaired in children who have been subject to maltreatment (Costa, 2009, Stipanicic, Nolin, Fortin, & Gobeil, 2008). This project focused on the effects of maltreatment, and the mediational role of executive functions, on the pre-academic skills of Portuguese preschoolers under the care of Child and Youth Protection Committees [CPCJ]. Our sample includes 68 children (Mage = 62.48 month, SD = 8.38) attending 31 classrooms in public or subsidized preschools (50% in each) in selected neighborhoods of four of the largest cities in Portugal. We recruited a sample of 24 CPCJ children in these preschools; they constitute our “at-risk” of preschoolers. We also recruited from the same classrooms a random sample of 44 children not under CPCJ supervision; they constitute the “comparison group” of preschoolers. We fit path models to the data to examine direct and mediated effects.Preliminary results (Figure 1) indicate significantly lower skills in emergent mathematics, literacy (vocabulary), and executive function (inhibitory control, but not working memory or attention shifting) in the at-risk versus the comparison group. We also found evidence of mediation of the effects of maltreatment on early skills by inhibitory control, controlling for clustering of children in classrooms. Expected final results include an examination of the moderating effects of classroom quality in the relationship between these risk factors and pre-academic skills. This study will have considerable practical and policy implications across the sectors of child protection, education, and social security. Figure 1. Simplified path model of the direct (dashed) and mediated (bold) effects of maltreatment on executive function and pre-academic skills, controlling for clustering of children in classrooms (N=68; N classrooms=31).
