The Influence of Daycare Quality on the Development of Executive Functions: An Exploratory Study.

• Grant number: 23/14923-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date until: August 01, 2024
• End date until: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Rogerio Lerner
• Grantee: Julia Prates Riganti
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) are a set of attention-regulating skills that are involved in problem-solving and action management, making them fundamental to people's lives. They consist of cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory, and their healthy development relies on genetic factors, appropriate environmental stimulation, and healthy social interactions. The international multicenter project "Germina," funded by the Wellcome Leap, assesses infants from birth to 3 years of age to better understand the environmental and genetic variables influencing healthy EF development.Given the number of daily hours children spend in daycare and the various activities and interactions that take place in these settings, studying and evaluating the environmental and relational conditions is of paramount importance in providing better guidelines for child development goals. This study will evaluate 200 daycare centers for Germina children using the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale - ITERS-3, which assesses the quality of early childhood education environments. The aim is to determine whether daycare quality acts as a mediator or moderator between predisposing early childhood variables and EF at age 3.Out of the 560 children under observation, daycare centers for the 100 children with the best economic conditions and the 100 with the worst conditions will be assessed. This measurement of space quality will contribute to the production of scientific material.