The measurement of executive function at age 3 years: Psychometric properties and criterion validity of a new battery of tasks.
Abstract
In this study, the authors examined the psychometric properties and criterion validity of a newly developed battery of tasks that were designed to assess executive function (EF) abilities in early childhood. The battery was included in the 36-month assessment of the Family Life Project (FLP), a prospective longitudinal study of 1,292 children oversampled from low-income and African American families. Ninety-one percent of children were able to complete 1 or more of the tasks. Psychometric analyses were used to test the dimensionality of each task, evaluate the item and task properties, test the dimensionality of the task battery, and evaluate the criterion validity of the battery with multi-informant measures of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology and child performance on two subtests of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Results indicated that the tasks were successful in measuring interindividual differences in child EF ability, that task scores were most informative about ability level for children in the low to moderate range of ability, that children's performance across the entire battery was adequately summarized by a single factor, and that individual differences on the EF battery were related to ADHD symptomatology and intelligence in expected ways. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of developing psychometrically sound, scalable instruments that facilitate the measurement of interindividual differences in intraindividual change of EF across the early childhood period.
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Executive function was assessed with three tasks modeled on tasks previously used successfully with young children.
“Executive function was assessed with three tasks modeled on tasks previously used successfully with young children. Full details on the executive function tasks are available in Willoughby, Blair, Wirth, & Greenberg (2010).”
From Salivary cortisol mediates effects of poverty and parenting on executive functions in early childhood (2011) · cites this paper as Willoughby, Blair, Wirth, & Greenberg (2010)
Go/No-Go tasks can be administered to children as young as 3 years, depending on the nature of the task and the degree of inhibitory control required.
“Depending on the nature of the task and the degree of inhibitory control required, Go/No-Go tasks can be administered to children as young as 3 years (M.T. Willoughby, Blair, Wirth, & Greenberg, 2010).”
From Assessing Executive Function in Preschoolers (2012) · cites this paper as M.T. Willoughby, Blair, Wirth, & Greenberg, 2010
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Kuhn, L., Willoughby, M. T., Vernon‐Feagans, L., & Blair, C. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2016.03.008 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
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The Family Life Project Key Investigators, Oh, Y., Greenberg, M. T., & Willoughby, M. T. (2020) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-019-00614-6 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
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Early Executive Function at Age Two Predicts Emergent Mathematics and Literacy at Age Five
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Qualitative change in executive control during childhood and adulthood
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A framework for executive function in the late elementary years.
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Self-citationMeasurement models for studying child executive functioning: Questioning the status quo.
Camerota, M., Willoughby, M. T., & Blair, C. (2020) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/dev0001127 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Self-citationMiller, M. R., Rittle‐Johnson, B., Loehr, A. M., & Fyfe, E. R. (2015) · Journal of Cognition and Development · doi:10.1080/15248372.2015.1023307 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Executive functions and approaches to learning in predicting school readiness
Vitiello, V. E., & Greenfield, D. B. (2017) · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2017.08.004 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
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Television Exposure, Sleep Time, and Neuropsychological Function Among Preschoolers
Nathanson, A. I., & Fries, P. T. (2014) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1080/15213269.2014.915197 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
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Self-citationGonzales, C. R., Bowles, R. P., Geldhof, G. J., Cameron, C. E., Tracy, A., & McClelland, M. M. (2021) · Early Childhood Research Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.03.008 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
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Testing the association between physical activity and executive function skills in early childhood
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Infant motor and cognitive abilities and subsequent executive function
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Self-citationGamma power in rural Pakistani children: Links to executive function and verbal ability
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Self-citationInhibitory Control Skills and Language Acquisition in Toddlers and Preschool Children
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Executive Functions in Preschool Children With ADHD and DBD: An 18-Month Longitudinal Study
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Effect of Mini-Trampoline Physical Activity on Executive Functions in Preschool Children
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Effects of home language environment on inhibitory control in bilingual three-year-old children
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Testing Models of Children's Self-regulation Within Educational Contexts
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Relation of perinatal risk and early parenting to executive control at the transition to school
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Poverty, Parent Stress, and Emerging Executive Functions in Young Children
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Self-citationAdverse childhood experiences, parenting, and child executive function
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- Authors
- Willoughby, M. T., The Family Life Project Investigators, Blair, C. B., Wirth, R. J., & Greenberg, M.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- New York University (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Assessment
- Published
- 2010-06
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 306-317
- ISSN
- 1040-3590 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-134X
- OpenAlex
- W2064915668
- Semantic Scholar
- e78b011b443547b322d9b48f11fd3258bf1caeb8
- Cited by
- 280
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 15.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Assessment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD51502; P01 HD39667)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- executive function, early childhood, three-year-old children, psychometric properties, criterion validity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD symptoms, Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, low-income households, African American children, Family Life Project, individual differences, within-person change
- MeSH terms
- Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Black or African American, Child, Preschool, Cognition Disorders, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Intelligence Tests, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Prospective Studies, Psychometrics, Task Performance and Analysis, Reproducibility of Results, Executive Function
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