Performance-based measures of children's executive functions (EFs) do not capture children's application of these skills during everyday emotionally-laden and socially-mediated interactions. The current study demonstrates the value of using assessor report of self-regulation behaviors (inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement) in addition to EF tasks when studying early childhood experiences and development in a rural lower-middle-income country setting. In a sample of 1302 disadvantaged 4-year-olds living in rural Pakistan, we found that directly assessed EFs were significantly related to assessor observations of children's inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement during a structured assessment protocol. However, EFs and two types of self-regulation behaviors demonstrated unique associations with children's (1) contextual experiences, as indexed by family socio-economic resources, participation in parenting interventions, and children's physical growth; and (2) age-salient developmental outcomes, as indexed by direct assessment of pre-academic skills and maternal report of prosocial behaviors and behavior problems. First, family wealth uniquely predicted only observed positive affect/engagement, whereas maternal education uniquely predicted only EFs. Second, children's antecedent linear growth was a significant predictor of both EFs and positive affect/engagement, but exposure to an enhanced nutrition intervention during the first 2 years of life and preschoolers’ hair cortisol concentration were associated only with observed self-regulation behaviors. Finally, both EFs and observed positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted children's pre-academic skills. In contrast, only assessors’ ratings of positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted maternal report of prosocial behaviors and only assessors’ ratings of inhibitory control uniquely predicted maternal report of behavioral problems.

中文翻译：

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执行功能和自我调节行为对于理解巴基斯坦农村地区幼儿经历和学龄前儿童成果的独特相关性

基于表现的儿童执行功能 (EFs) 测量并没有捕捉到儿童在日常充满情感和社交介导的互动中对这些技能的应用。当前的研究表明，在研究农村中低收入国家环境中的儿童早期经历和发展时，除了 EF 任务外，还使用自我调节行为（抑制控制和积极影响/参与）评估员报告的价值。在生活在巴基斯坦农村的 1302 名弱势 4 岁儿童样本中，我们发现直接评估的 EF 与评估者在结构化评估协议中对儿童抑制控制和积极影响/参与的观察显着相关。然而，EF 和两种类型的自我调节行为表现出与儿童的独特关联 (1)情境体验，以家庭社会经济资源、参与育儿干预和儿童身体成长为索引；(2)年龄显着的发育结果，根据学前技能的直接评估和亲社会行为和行为问题的母亲报告作为索引。首先，家庭财富只能唯一地预测观察到的积极影响/参与，而母亲教育只能唯一地预测 EF。其次，儿童之前的线性生长是 EF 和积极影响/参与的重要预测因子，但在生命的前 2 年内接触增强的营养干预和学龄前儿童的头发皮质醇浓度仅与观察到的自我调节行为相关。最后，EF 和观察到的积极影响/参与都可以独特地预测儿童的学前技能。相比之下，