Work

The Association Between Classroom Descriptive Norms, Relationship Quality and the Development of Adolescents’ Executive Functioning: A Longitudinal Perspective

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Despite work demonstrating that executive function development is influenced by the social environment during childhood, little is known about these processes during adolescence either inside or outside the classroom. This study examined the relationship between executive function development and two social-contextual factors, namely the impact of classroom descriptive norms regarding executive functioning, and perceived social support from teachers and peers. Self-report data was collected from 425 early adolescents ( M age T1 = 13.28; SD = 0.80, 47.1% female) at two timepoints approximately one year apart. Multilevel analyses showed that individual levels of executive functioning were a stronger predictor of executive function development than classroom levels of executive functions. Social support from teachers and peers was not related to executive function development. While these findings offer an initial suggestion that executive function development may occur relatively independently of the social environment, we offer suggestions for future studies to explore this relationship in more detail.

Source: The Journal of Early Adolescence

DOI: 10.1177/02724316251322694

Authors: Nikki C. Lee, Verena Hofmann, Christoph M. Müller, Dieter Baeyens, Mariëtte Huizinga

Institutions: Utrecht University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Fribourg, KU Leuven

Language: English

Topic: Early Childhood Education and Development

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650