Basic Executive Functions in Early Childhood Education and their Relationship with Social Competence

Abstract

Abstract Due to the relationship found in several studies between executive functions deficits and different psychopathological and behavioral disorders, research on the development of executive functions in children have increased in the last decade. In addition, the increase and improvement of executive functions have linked to the development of social competence. Also, the increase and improvement of social competence and academic achievement have also linked to the development of these functions. However, the researches that study the relationship between executive functions and social competence have focused mainly in adolescence and adulthood, or in people with some kind of disorder. Being less frequent studies in people without any neurological or psychological pathology or in child population. For this reason, the aim of this research is to understand the relationship between executive functions and social competence in children aged 5 years without associated pathologies. The study involved 119 students (60 boys and 59 girls) from 5 years of age, enrolled in the last year of Kindergarten, in two private but publicly funded schools in Granada. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between social skills and executive functions. However, intervention programs in social competence rarely include executive functions as a key element to be worked on.