ABSTRACT
Abstract Episodic foresight (EF) refers to the ability to anticipate future states of the self. Despite almost two decades of research, no studies explored how family context variables relate to the development of this ability. The objectives of this study were to explore the association of socioeconomic status (SES), parental consideration of future consequences (CFC), and family environment quality on the development of episodic foresight and to compare the magnitude of the effects of these same variables on delay of gratification and planning. Sixty-four dyads composed by 4-year-old Uruguayan children and their main caregiver participated in the study. Children were administered experiments on episodic foresight, delay of gratification, planning, and receptive language. Parents reported socioeconomic status, family environment, and their consideration of future consequences. Even though parents' limit setting was associated to higher EF in children and parental CFC-I was a predictor in multiple regression analysis, these effects ceased to be significant when controlled by child's receptive language and caregiver education, being these the main predictors of EF. Results also indicate that SES significantly distinguishes the performance in future-oriented skills and language, being the magnitude of the effect higher for EF in comparison with planning and delay of gratification. This study supports that EF is related to SES to a greater extent than other variables traditionally assessed in studies of poverty and child development. We discuss implications of low SES and language skills in the light of EF development and immediate-oriented behavior in contexts of deprivation. (AU)
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Child, Preschool , Social Class , Time , Child Development , Cognition , Family Relations , UruguayABSTRACT
Este trabajo examina la equivalencia entre diferentes medidas de previsión episódica y su relación con los procesos orientados a futuro, y la teoría de la mente en la edad pre-escolar. Los procesos orientados a futuro y la previsión episódica (PE), han sido señalados como componentes importantes para ciertos logros evolutivos como la planificación, la auto-regulación y adaptación social. También se ha postulado que pensamiento futuro episódico y teoría de la mente están relacionados, en virtud de su sustrato neural compartido. El primer estudio tuvo por objetivo analizar la coherencia de desarrollo entre las medidas de PE, y de estas con la postergación de la gratificación auto-impuesta controlando según la aptitud general de razonamiento, y participaron 15 niños de 3 y 4 años. El segundo, tuvo por objetivo explorar la relación entre PE, los procesos orientados a futuro, la teoría de la mente controlando según lenguaje, participando 78 niños de 4 años. Los resultados muestran que las diferentes medidas para evaluar la PE son equivalentes. También se encontró un alto grado de coherencia comportamental entre las medidas evaluadas. Sin embargo, los datos no aportan evidencia evolutiva que permitan incluir a la PE dentro de los constructos más amplios estudiados.
This paper explores the equivalence between episodic foresight measures and its relationship with future oriented processes and the theory of mind in preschoolers. Future oriented processes and episodic foresight have been indicated as a grounding basis of important developmental achievements such as planning, self-regulation and social adaptation. Also, it was postulated that the theory of mind and episodic foresight are related due to a shared common neural substrate. The objective of the first study, in which 15 children aged 3 and 4 participated, was to explore the developmental coherence between episodic foresight measures and the self-imposed delay of gratification controlled by the reasoning ability. In Study 2, 78 children were tested in episodic foresight, future oriented processes and theory of mind controlled by the language ability. Results show that the different measures of episodic foresight are highly equivalent. Also, in both studies a high behavioral coherence between all the measures analyzed was found. Nevertheless, data do not support the inclusion of episodic foresight in the broader constructs studied.