The impact of parents’ subjective happiness on children’s executive functions: A longitudinal study
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Abstract
Background: Executive function (EF) undergoes rapid development during childhood and is shaped by parenting context. Parental subjective happiness has been linked to children’s socioemotional outcomes, but its long-term influence on EF remains unclear.
Objectives: To determine whether mothers’ and fathers’ subjective happiness at the child’s age of 7 predict the child’s EF at age 12, and to identify which facets of parental happiness (overall, relative, general, independent) are associated with later EF.
Materials and methods: A longitudinal cohort of 1 598 Korean families was drawn from the Education Panel Study on Korean Children. Parental happiness at baseline (child age 7) was assessed with the four-item Subjective Happiness Scale and classified into overall, relative, general, and independent domains. Children’s EF was measured five years later (age 12) using the 40-item Child-dolescent Self-Reported Executive Function Difficulty Screening Questionnaire (higher scores = better EF). One-way ANOVA tested EF differences across low, normal, and high parental happiness groups for each domain.
Results: Maternal overall, relative, and independent happiness at age 7 were each positively associated with children’s EF at age 12 (all p<0.05). In contrast, the corresponding paternal happiness domains showed no significant associations (p>0.20). For the general happiness domain-reflecting moodrelated well-being both higher maternal and higher paternal scores predicted better child EF five years later (mother: F=5.34, p=0.005; father: F=3.04, p=0.048). Effect sizes were small to moderate (η²=0.01-0.04).
Conclusion: In this Korean cohort, maternal happiness exerted a broader and stronger influence on children’s later EF than paternal happiness, while both parents’ general (mood-related) happiness independently predicted EF. Interventions that enhance parental-particularly maternal-subjective happiness may yield downstream cognitive benefits for school-aged children.
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Personal views expressed by the contributors in their articles are not necessarily those of the Journal of Associated Medical Sciences, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
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