Relationships between executive functioning, private speech, and emotion regulation in preschoolers

Abstract

The present study investigated the associations among executive functioning (EF), private speech (PS), and emotion regulation (ER) in a sample 62 preschoolers from the age of 4- to 5-years, their mothers and teachers through a cross-sectional design. Inhibition (IC) and working memory (WM) difficulties of children were measured through mother reports on Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (Thorell & Nyberg, 2008). Children’s ER strategies were observed during the “Attractive Toy in a Transparent Box” task (Goldsmith, Reilly, Lemery, Longly, & Prescott, 1999). Effortful control and negative emotionality were assessed through mother and teacher reports on the Child Behavior Questionnaire Short Form (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Children’s PS was observed during a categorization task and coded according to Berk’s (1986) coding scheme. The PS positively predicted the IC difficulties beyond the child and family characteristics, implying that children who had difficulty in inhibition were more likely to rely on the PS. Bivariate correlations revealed that both the IC and WM difficulties were negatively related to effortful control and positively related to negative emotionality. The results seem to indicate that executive functions and temperamental emotion regulation are interrelated and the PS may have a supportive function for disinhibited children. The practical implications for school counselors and educators were discussed.