The Influence of Parental Skills on Children Executive Performance in the Chilean Context

The relationship between parenting styles and executive functioning in children has been well established. However, few studies have evaluated the effect of specific parental skills on children’s executive functions. The main goal of our study was to investigate the existence of association and/or the effect of specific dimensions of parental skills on children’s global and domain-specific executive functions. A non-experimental ex post facto design was implemented, which included a sample of ninety-six parent/child dyads. Parents completed a positive parenting scale, whereas primary schoolchildren were assessed in six executive domains. Pearson’s correlation, regression models, and one-way ANOVA analyses were performed. Results showed significant associations between most parental skills dimensions and children’s EFs specific domains. Regression analyses showed good predictive capacity of protective skills when predicting children’s planning and problem-solving, global executive and semantic fluency. ANOVA analyses showed significant effects of protective and formative skills on children’s executive performance. However, we did not observe any significant effects of parental skills on children’s phonological fluency, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. Our results identify which dimensions of parental skills could contribute to the development of executive functions in children. We highlight the influence of protective skills on children’s executive performance. In light of our findings, we suggest potential areas of future research, such as the effectiveness of positive parenting training and its benefits on children’s executive development. Our findings also provide evidence to develop programs for parents that promote the acquisition and/or strengthening of positive parenting, which favor the cognitive development of children.