The Relationship Between Executive Functions and Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors in Mexican Preschoolers

ABSTRACT

Executive functions allow the regulation of behavior and emotions. This study aimed to analyze the association of executive functions with externalizing and internalizing behaviors in 30 Mexican preschoolers with typical development (age M = 53.63 months; SD = 7.83 months; 40% girls) from homes of middle-low socioeconomic status. Behavioral and cognitive measures were used to assess executive functions and analyzed them using robust statistical methods. We found that executive functions are related to externalizing and internalizing behaviors at the behavioral level. Only Forward Digit Span predicts attentional problems. Individual differences in children's cognitive development in a Mexican context were adressed, and they have clinical and educational implications.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (PAPIIT IN308219, “Factores del desarrollo neurocognitivo asociados a la adquisición del proceso de lectoescritura en niños preescolares”). We are grateful to the training program in manuscript writing in English (CEMAI-CONACYT). We also appreciate the assistance of Julia Beatriz Barrón-Martínez and Tomás Alberto Salmerón-Enciso.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Compliance with ethical standards

All parents and caregivers were informed about the study procedures, materials, and aims, of the study, in accordance with the Código Ético del Psicólogo (2013) del Consejo Nacional para la Enseñanza e Investigación en Psicología (Psychologists’ Code of Ethics of the Mexican National Council for Teaching and Research in Psychology, CNEIP).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Support Program for Research and Technological Innovation Projects (PAPIIT) [PAPIIT IN308219 Factores de Desarrollo neurocognit].