Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literary ability in kindergarten

This study examined the role of self-regulation in emerging academic ability in one hundred and forty-one 3- to 5-year-old children from low-income homes. Measures of effortful control, false belief understanding, and the inhibitory control and attention-shifting aspects of executive function in preschool were related to measures of math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Results indicated that the various aspects of child self-regulation accounted for unique variance in the academic outcomes independent of general intelligence and that the in-hibitory control aspect of executive function was a prominent correlate of both early math and reading ability. Findings suggest that curricula designed to improve self-regulation skills as well as enhance early academic abilities may be most effective in helping children succeed in school. The emergence of self-regulation provides the basis for a wide array of developing competencies in early childhood ranging from theory of mind (Carlson, Mandell, & Williams, 2004) to child compliance (Kopp, 1989; Stifter, Spinrad, & Braungart-Rieker, 1999). Increasingly, accurate description and mea-surement of self-regulation is seen as central to un-