Sociodemographic risk, parenting, and executive functions in early childhood: The role of ethnicity

• Risk predicts lower maternal sensitivity and higher negative-intrusiveness.
• Parenting in infancy mediates the effects of risk on toddlerhood parenting.
• Parenting behaviors fully mediate the effects of risk on executive functions.
• Among European American families, sensitivity mediates risk’s effects.
• Among African American families, negative-intrusiveness is the mediator.

The current study examined whether parenting behaviors in early childhood mediated the effects of cumulative risk on executive functions at school entry, and whether these effects differed as a function of ethnicity. Risk and parenting were assessed in infancy (3–12 months) and toddlerhood (24–36 months) using parent-report and observational measures; executive functions were assessed at 60 months using a battery of behavioral tasks. A series of structural equation models revealed that while risk predicted lower levels of maternal sensitivity and higher levels of negative intrusiveness in a manner that was consistent across ethnic subsamples, the effects of parenting behaviors on executive functions varied by ethnicity. Higher levels of sensitivity predicted higher levels of executive functions only among European American participants, while higher levels of negative intrusiveness predicted lower levels of executive functions only among African American participants. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating an understanding of parenting behaviors in their cultural context into early-education programs designed to improve executive functions among children at risk.