We examined whether family care following early-life deprivation buffered the association between stressful life events (SLEs) and executive functioning (EF) in adolescence. In early childhood, 136 institutionally reared children were randomly assigned to foster care or care-as-usual; 72 never-institutionalized children served as a comparison…

Autistic individuals are at significantly higher risk of suicide than non-autistic individuals, with transition-aged youth at potentially the highest risk. While lower executive function (EF) skills have been significantly associated with suicide risk in other clinical samples, the link between EF and suicidality has not yet been examined for…

Objective: The current study examined the association between subjective and objective cognitive measures and alcohol use in college students. Objective cognitive impairment is associated with alcohol use, however subjective cognitive impairment remains understudied in at-risk populations. Participants: Data were collected from 140 undergraduate…

Background: Addiction medicine still largely neglects the topic of mild and borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID), although patients with MBID are considered a risk group for substance-related problems and offending behaviour. This study aimed to explore the cognitive and adaptive impairments of inpatients in forensic addiction mental health…

Research suggests a role for aspects of the working memory system in reading. While much of the evidence points to a role for working memory capacity and the phonological loop, more recent work indicates a role for the central executive component, although findings remain unclear. There is an identified need for a reliable screening measure for…

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk for high stress levels. Multiple child factors have been identified as predictors of stress in parents of children with ASD, but factors associated with stress in parents of children with ASD and comorbid intellectual disability (ASD-ID) are not well understood. This study…

The demands on mathematical problem-solving have increased in almost all school systems internationally and may constitute a barrier for children with special educational needs (SEN). This study explored the role of fluid reasoning (FR), working memory (WM) and complex executive function of planning (EF) in children (N = 62) referred for…

Objective: Emerging adulthood is an important phase in the transition to adulthood. Emerging adults experience minimal social control and incomplete development of executive functioning leaving this age-group at risk for misusing this newfound independence. Hence, it is important to understand pathways to support positive development (PD)…

Background: Causal theories of dyslexia suggest that it is a heritable disorder, which is the outcome of multiple risk factors. However, whether early screening for dyslexia is viable is not yet known. Methods: The study followed children at high risk of dyslexia from preschool through the early primary years assessing them from age 3 years and 6…

Background: The developmental relationships between executive functions (EF) and early language skills are unclear. This study explores the longitudinal relationships between children's early EF and language skills in a sample of children with a wide range of language abilities including children at risk of dyslexia. In addition, we investigated…

This study extends the methodological and theoretical understanding of executive functions (EFs) in preschoolers from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). First, the authors describe a rigorous process of adapting and evaluating six EF tasks to produce a culturally and developmentally appropriate measure of emerging EFs in a large sample of…

Substantial evidence has established that individual differences in executive function (EF) in early childhood are uniquely predictive of children's academic readiness at school entry. The current study tested whether growth trajectories of EF across the early childhood period could be used to identify a subset of children who were at pronounced…

The current longitudinal study examined the role of cumulative social risk on children's theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning (EF) across early development. Further, we also tested a cascade model of development in which children's social cognition at 18 months was hypothesized to predict ToM and EF at age 4.5 through intermediary…

A critical skill in emergent writing is the developing ability to take the perspective of different readers; however, the precursors of this skill have not yet been identified. In this longitudinal study, 105 children (90 after attrition) were tested at 3 time points: pre-kindergarten (3-4 years old, n = 105), kindergarten (5 years old, n = 97),…

Children chronically exposed to stress early in life are at increased risk for maladaptive outcomes, though the physiological mechanisms driving these effects are unknown. Cortisol reactivity was tested as a mediator of the relation between prenatal substance exposure and/or early adversity on adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Data were drawn…