The Contributions of Preschool Attendance and Kindergarten Experience to Executive Functioning in Chinese and American Children.

Abstract

Executive functions (EF), including working memory (WM), attention, and cognitive flexibility (CF), are fundamental to students’ academic success, and Chinese children exhibit a substantial advantage in these skills. This project explored this culture gap, as well as cultural differences in the associations between gender, preschool, and kindergarten experiences and EF. In Study 1, 198 American and 196 Chinese children were assessed at the beginning and end of kindergarten in EF skills. Parents reported their socioeconomic backgrounds and children’s preschool history. Chinese children were estimated to have spent, on average, over 4,000 hours in preschool, compared to just 1,400 hours in America.

At kindergarten entry, Chinese children outscored American children by 0.80 standard deviations (SD) in attention, 0.62 SD in WM, and 0.47 SD in CF, controlling for SES differences. The attention gap remained the same from fall to spring, but the Chinese advantage grew to 0.95 SD in WM and 0.71 SD in CF. In both cultures, girls outscored boys at kindergarten entry by 0.22 SD in CF, but a female advantage was only present in the U.S. for attention (0.40 SD) and WM (0.44 SD). Preschool had a small positive association with school-entry WM in both cultures (β = 0.17), an association with attention in China (β = 0.27), and no association with school-entry CF. However, preschool did have a positive association with boys’ CF growth over kindergarten.

In Study 2, researchers observed the same children in their kindergarten classrooms for one hour of a typical school day and coded the time that children spent in academic activities and that teachers spent giving instructions for activities and classroom procedures (labeled orientation). Orientation was associated with attention growth in the U.S. (β = 0.24). Academic activities were associated with CF growth in both cultures (β = 0.11), attention growth in the U.S. (β = 0.19), and WM growth in China (β = 0.31). These findings indicate that the Chinese EF advantage may be partially due to differences in the quantity and content of early schooling and highlight the importance of American investment in early education.