Individuality in children´s executive functions in poverty

FRACCHIA, CAROLINA; GIOVANNETTI, FEDERICO; GIL, JUAN; LOPEZ ROSENFELD, MATÍAS; HERMIDA, MARÍA JULIA; PRATS, LUCIA; SEGRETIN, M. SOLEDAD; LIPINA, SEBASTIAN J.

Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research

Leverkusen

Lugar: Barbara Budrich Publishers; Año: 2016

1862-5002

Different ways of solving planning and spatial working memory tasks generate different taskperformance profiles. Tests were administered to 346 (planning) and 427 (spatial working memory) Argentinean children from different socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds. A cross-sectional design was performedto explore eventual variable profiles of performance that were associated with levels of success or failure on tasks that tapped working memory and planning demands and to evaluate their association with SES conditions. The results showed that (1) different task-performance profiles were identified: decreased,changeless, oscillated, or increased; (2) the total score for the tasks was significantly different among these profiles; and (3) there were significant differences in the total score among SES groups, which depended on type of profile. These findings suggested the importance of studying individual differences in the performance of tasks that demand self-regulatory processes of children with SES disadvantages. This is important for the understanding of how children solve problems, and how that behavior varies according to SES.