Links Between Child Executive Function and Adjustment: A Three-Site Study

Laure Lu Chen; Jean Heng; Chengyi Xu; Michelle R. Ellefson; Miryam Edwards; Hana D'Souza; Elian Fink; Mikeda Jess; Louise Gray; Caoimhe Dempsey; Mishika Mehrotra; Siu Ching Wong; Catherine Wu; Brittany Huang; Jiayin Zheng; Zhen Wu; R.T. Devine; Claire Hughes

doi:10.1111/cdev.14264

Links Between Child Executive Function and Adjustment: A Three-Site Study

Laure Lu Chen, Jean Heng, Chengyi Xu^*, Michelle R. Ellefson, Miryam Edwards, Hana D'Souza, Elian Fink, Mikeda Jess, Louise Gray, Caoimhe Dempsey, Mishika Mehrotra, Siu Ching Wong, Catherine Wu, Brittany Huang, Jiayin Zheng, Zhen Wu, R.T. Devine, Claire Hughes

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Cross-site comparisons indicate that East Asian children typically excel on tests of executive function (EF), but interpreting this contrast is made difficult by both the heavy reliance on testing in school settings and by the scarcity of studies that assess across-site measurement invariance. Addressing these gaps, our study included remote home-based assessments of EF for 1,002 children (M_age = 5.19 years, SD = 0.51; 49% male) from England, Hong Kong, and mainland China, as well as parental ratings of externalizing and internalizing adjustment problems. The models established partial scalar invariance but did not show clear site differences. Supporting the universal importance of EF for behavioral self-regulation, EF task performance and parent-rated externalizing problems showed similar inverse associations across sites.

Original language	English
Journal	Child Development
Early online date	29 May 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14264
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 29 May 2025

Keywords

adjustment problems
cross-cultural comparison
executive function
online home-based assessment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology

Access to Document

10.1111/cdev.14264Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

ChenLL2025LinksFinal published version, 773 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

1 Article

Changes in Children’s Wellbeing and Mental Health Across the Early School Years: Links with Academic and Social Competence
Devine, R. T., Gray, L., Edwards, M., Jess, M., Dempsey, C., Heng, J., Mehrotra, M., D'Souza, H., Fink, E. & Hughes, C. H., 11 Feb 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Developmental Psychology.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Finished

School Readiness: Connecting Viewpoints on Child and Family Well-being and Identifying Commonalities Across Diverse Groups
Devine, R. (Principal Investigator)
Economic & Social Research Council
1/04/21 → 31/08/23
Project: Research Councils

The Ready or Not Study: Connecting Viewpoints on Child and Family Wellbeing and Identifying Commonalities Across Diverse Groups, 2021-2023.
Hughes, C. H. (Creator), Fink, E. (Creator), D'Souza, H. (Creator) & Devine, R. (Creator), UK Data Service, 28 Mar 2024
DOI: 10.5255/UKDA-SN-857098, https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/857098/
Dataset

Cite this

Chen, L. L., Heng, J., Xu, C., Ellefson, M. R., Edwards, M., D'Souza, H., Fink, E., Jess, M., Gray, L., Dempsey, C., Mehrotra, M., Wong, S. C., Wu, C., Huang, B., Zheng, J., Wu, Z., Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C. (2025). Links Between Child Executive Function and Adjustment: A Three-Site Study. Child Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14264

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abstract = "Cross-site comparisons indicate that East Asian children typically excel on tests of executive function (EF), but interpreting this contrast is made difficult by both the heavy reliance on testing in school settings and by the scarcity of studies that assess across-site measurement invariance. Addressing these gaps, our study included remote home-based assessments of EF for 1,002 children (Mage = 5.19 years, SD = 0.51; 49% male) from England, Hong Kong, and mainland China, as well as parental ratings of externalizing and internalizing adjustment problems. The models established partial scalar invariance but did not show clear site differences. Supporting the universal importance of EF for behavioral self-regulation, EF task performance and parent-rated externalizing problems showed similar inverse associations across sites.",

keywords = "adjustment problems, cross-cultural comparison, executive function, online home-based assessment",

author = "Chen, {Laure Lu} and Jean Heng and Chengyi Xu and Ellefson, {Michelle R.} and Miryam Edwards and Hana D'Souza and Elian Fink and Mikeda Jess and Louise Gray and Caoimhe Dempsey and Mishika Mehrotra and Wong, {Siu Ching} and Catherine Wu and Brittany Huang and Jiayin Zheng and Zhen Wu and R.T. Devine and Claire Hughes",

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language = "English",

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AU - Chen, Laure Lu

AU - Heng, Jean

AU - Xu, Chengyi

AU - Ellefson, Michelle R.

AU - Edwards, Miryam

AU - D'Souza, Hana

AU - Fink, Elian

AU - Jess, Mikeda

AU - Gray, Louise

AU - Dempsey, Caoimhe

AU - Mehrotra, Mishika

AU - Wong, Siu Ching

AU - Wu, Catherine

AU - Huang, Brittany

AU - Zheng, Jiayin

AU - Wu, Zhen

AU - Devine, R.T.

AU - Hughes, Claire

PY - 2025/5/29

Y1 - 2025/5/29

N2 - Cross-site comparisons indicate that East Asian children typically excel on tests of executive function (EF), but interpreting this contrast is made difficult by both the heavy reliance on testing in school settings and by the scarcity of studies that assess across-site measurement invariance. Addressing these gaps, our study included remote home-based assessments of EF for 1,002 children (Mage = 5.19 years, SD = 0.51; 49% male) from England, Hong Kong, and mainland China, as well as parental ratings of externalizing and internalizing adjustment problems. The models established partial scalar invariance but did not show clear site differences. Supporting the universal importance of EF for behavioral self-regulation, EF task performance and parent-rated externalizing problems showed similar inverse associations across sites.

AB - Cross-site comparisons indicate that East Asian children typically excel on tests of executive function (EF), but interpreting this contrast is made difficult by both the heavy reliance on testing in school settings and by the scarcity of studies that assess across-site measurement invariance. Addressing these gaps, our study included remote home-based assessments of EF for 1,002 children (Mage = 5.19 years, SD = 0.51; 49% male) from England, Hong Kong, and mainland China, as well as parental ratings of externalizing and internalizing adjustment problems. The models established partial scalar invariance but did not show clear site differences. Supporting the universal importance of EF for behavioral self-regulation, EF task performance and parent-rated externalizing problems showed similar inverse associations across sites.

KW - adjustment problems

KW - cross-cultural comparison

KW - executive function

KW - online home-based assessment

U2 - 10.1111/cdev.14264

DO - 10.1111/cdev.14264

M3 - Article

SN - 0009-3920

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

ER -

Links Between Child Executive Function and Adjustment: A Three-Site Study

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Research output

Changes in Children’s Wellbeing and Mental Health Across the Early School Years: Links with Academic and Social Competence

Projects

School Readiness: Connecting Viewpoints on Child and Family Well-being and Identifying Commonalities Across Diverse Groups

Datasets

The Ready or Not Study: Connecting Viewpoints on Child and Family Wellbeing and Identifying Commonalities Across Diverse Groups, 2021-2023.

Cite this