Episodic foresight (EF) refers to the ability to anticipate future states of the self. Despite almost two decades of research, no studies explored how family context variables relate to the development of this ability. The objectives of this study were to explore the association of socioeconomic status (SES), parental consideration of future consequences (CFC), and family environment quality on the development of episodic foresight and to compare the magnitude of the effects of these same variables on delay of gratification and planning. Sixty-four dyads composed by 4-year-old Uruguayan children and their main caregiver participated in the study. Children were administered experiments on episodic foresight, delay of gratification, planning, and receptive language. Parents reported socioeconomic status, family environment, and their consideration of future consequences. Even though parents’ limit setting was associated to higher EF in children and parental CFC-I was a predictor in multiple regression analysis, these effects ceased to be significant when controlled by child’s receptive language and caregiver education, being these the main predictors of EF. Results also indicate that SES significantly distinguishes the performance in future-oriented skills and language, being the magnitude of the effect higher for EF in comparison with planning and delay of gratification. This study supports that EF is related to SES to a greater extent than other variables traditionally assessed in studies of poverty and child development. We discuss implications of low SES and language skills in the light of EF development and immediate-oriented behavior in contexts of deprivation.

中文翻译：

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学龄前儿童情景预见的发展：社会经济地位、父母未来取向和家庭背景的作用


情景预见（EF）是指预测自我未来状态的能力。尽管进行了近二十年的研究，但没有研究探讨家庭背景变量与这种能力的发展之间的关系。本研究的目的是探讨社会经济地位（SES）、父母对未来后果的考虑（CFC）和家庭环境质量与情景预见发展的关系，并比较这些相同变量对延迟的影响程度满足感和计划。由 4 岁乌拉圭儿童和他们的主要照顾者组成的 64 名二人组参与了这项研究。孩子们接受了关于情景预见、延迟满足、计划和接受性语言的实验。父母报告了社会经济状况、家庭环境以及他们对未来后果的考虑。尽管父母的限制设置与儿童较高的 EF 相关，并且父母 CFC-I 是多元回归分析中的预测因子，但当受儿童接受性语言和看护者教育的控制时，这些影响不再显着，因为这些是 EF 的主要预测因子。结果还表明，SES 显着区分了面向未来的技能和语言的表现，与计划和延迟满足相比，EF 的影响程度更高。这项研究表明，与贫困和儿童发展研究中传统评估的其他变量相比，EF 与 SES 的相关性更大。我们根据 EF 发展和贫困环境中的即时行为来讨论低 SES 和语言技能的影响。