How do psychosocial stress of the family, early-term birth and early childhood intervention affect the development of children`s executive functions? Using Baileys Scale III as a measurement for executive functions in children between 0 and 3 years

Minna R.K. Törmänen^1*Simone Schaub²Erich Ramseier³Christina Koch²Alex Neuhauser²Patsawee Rodcharoen²Isabelle Kalkusch²Andrea Lanfranchi²Peter Klaver²

• ¹University of Teacher Education in Special Needs, Zurich, Switzerland, Institute for Professionalization and System Development, Zurich, Switzerland
• ²University of Teacher Education in Special Needs, Zurich, Switzerland
• ³University of Teacher Education, Berne, Switzerland

Executive functions (EF) are an important predictor of cognitive development. Early measures of EF are however rare. We extracted measurements of EF from the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development BSID-III, Bayley (2006) at age one, two and three years and investigated the effect of psychosocial stress, early-term birth and early childhood intervention on EF development. Families with psychosocial stress participated in a longitudinal RCT study implementing the home-visiting intervention program Parents-as-Teachers (PAT) (intervention group, N=121 and control group, N=111). Birth status (earlyterm, N=69; on-term, N=163) and family stress (high stress, N=68, low stress, N=164) were predictors of EF. Family`s psychosocial stress had a negative effect of on child`s EF development during first three years, while the PAT intervention had a positive effect. Earlyterm birth had a moderate association with EF development. Implications for early development of EF, early childhood interventions are discussed. Keywords: Executive Functions, early-term birth, development between 0-3 years, psychosocial stress of the family, home-visiting intervention, Parents-as-Teacher program (PAT) * p < .05, one-tailed.