Date of Conferral

2-20-2024

Date of Award

February 2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Charles Diebold

Abstract

An academic achievement disparity exists between children from low-income and high-income households, and this gap progressively expands over time. A child’s executive functioning skills and interactions with their parents can contribute to this deficit. This static group comparison and quantitative correlational research study was conducted to examine the effects of parental warmth, parenting style, and parents’ socioeconomic status (SES) and the impact on kindergarten students’ working memory and inhibition executive functioning skills. The research was guided by Bandura’s social learning theory and Baumrind parenting style theory. The data sources were online self-reported surveys completed by parents with children in kindergarten. The following surveys were used for this study: parenting styles and dimensions questionnaire (short version), childhood executive functioning inventory, parental warmth questionnaire, and demographic questions. The sample included 118 participants. The results showed that the type of interactions a child had with their parents can impact their working memory and inhibition executive functions. Children with permissive or neglectful parents had a higher chance of having working memory and inhibition executive function deficits. The children who had positive relationships with their parents did not show these deficits. The findings from this study could have implications for positive social change by advocating for and implementing parenting programs aimed at enhancing parents’ positive parenting abilities, as well as educational programs designed to intervene and improve executive functioning skills among students.

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