Abstract
Despite work demonstrating that executive function development is influenced by the social environment during childhood, little is known about these processes during adolescence either inside or outside the classroom. This study examined the relationship between executive function development and two social-contextual factors, namely the impact of classroom descriptive norms regarding executive functioning, and perceived social support from teachers and peers. Self-report data was collected from 425 early adolescents (Mage T1 = 13.28; SD = 0.80, 47.1% female) at two timepoints approximately one year apart. Multilevel analyses showed that individual levels of executive functioning were a stronger predictor of executive function development than classroom levels of executive functions. Social support from teachers and peers was not related to executive function development. While these findings offer an initial suggestion that executive function development may occur relatively independently of the social environment, we offer suggestions for future studies to explore this relationship in more detail.
| Original language | English |
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| Journal | Journal of Early Adolescence |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 11 Mar 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2025.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by a grant from the National Initiative Brain and Cognition (NIHC 056-34-016).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Initiative Brain and Cognition (NIHC) | 056-34-016 |
Keywords
- adolescence
- behaviour rating inventory of executive function (BRIEF)
- descriptive norm
- executive functions
- social support