关键词: 执行功能, 情绪调节, 双向关系, 个体间, 个体内

Abstract: As two important components of self-regulation, executive function (EF) and emotion regulation (ER) are closely associated. EF refers to the high-level cognitive processes that are necessary for planning and executing goal-directed behavior, and ER refers to the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive and temporal features, to accomplish one’s goals. Existing, empirical studies have shown that children’s positive EF is conducive to the development of their ER, and higher ER skills can also improve children's EF. However, longitudinal research scarcely explored the potential reciprocal relationship between EF and ER. Moreover, developmental theory is typically concerned with within-person variability, and developmental processes are often assumed to occur within, rather than between individuals. The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM), a traditional method testing direction of effects, fails to separate between-person variance from within-person variance. In this regard, the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) could split the variance of each variable into stable between-person variation, which denotes, on average, whether children who perform better on one variable (e.g., EF) also perform better on the other (e.g., ER), and within-person variation, which denotes changes from one’s own mean level (e.g., EF) during the assessment period as a function of changes in one’s own levels of the other variable (e.g., ER) and the autoregressive effect from the previous assessment point. Therefore, the aim of this study is to use the RI-CLPM to provide a strong test of both between- and within-person associations between EF and ER during preschool period. Meanwhile, we also use the CLPM to test the EF-ER relations to further verify and compare results. In addition, EF components, including inhibitory control, working memory and attention shift, are suggested to be independent of each other even at a young age and also to undergo distinct developmental changes with age. Thus, it is vital to understand how each EF component is related to ER and whether the relations would vary with EF components.
The longitudinal sample consisted of 381 Chinese preschool children (Wave 1:M_age = 4.22 years, SD = .46 years; 50.97% boys, 49.03% girls) in Beijing. During three waves, mothers reported children’s EF using the Behavior Rating Inventory of the Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P), which included the inhibitory self-control index (ISCI), the emergent metacognition index (EMI) and the flexibility index (FI). Children’s ER was also reported by mothers using the Emotional Regulation Checklist (ERC). The internal consistency was good for both measures at three times.
The results of the CLPMs showed that all of the autoregressive paths were statistically significant. With regard to the cross-lagged effects, ISCI and FI were bidirectionally related to ER at T1 and T2, but only the paths from EF at T1 and T2 and EMI at T2 to ER at the subsequent time point were significant, but not vice versa. The results of the RI-CLPMs showed that at within-person level, all of the autoregressive paths were not statistically significant except for the path from ER at T2 to ER at T3. As to cross-lagged paths, FI and ER were reciprocally predicted at the within-person level between T1 and T2, and ER at T1 significantly predicted the within-person changes in ISCI at T2. In addition, at the between-person level, the random intercepts of EF, ISCI and EMI were significantly correlated with the random intercept of ER.
In sum, the associations between EF and ER are found to be different for EF components. The associations between ISCI/EMI and ER are more likely to occur at the between-person level, and the relations between FI and ER primarily represent within-person associations only from early preschool to middle preschool.

Key words: executive function, emotion regulation, reciprocal relation, within-person, between-person