(PS1-C65) Evaluating the Moderating Effect of Executive Functioning on the Relation Between Conduct Problems and Peer Rejection

Peer relationships are imperative for socio-emotional development in early childhood. The development of social status is complex and children with emotional, behavioral, and cognitive difficulties may be prone to challenges. Conduct problems (e.g., disobedience, aggression) in early childhood are behavioral difficulties that have been found to be positively related to both poor peer status (peer rejection) and more desirable peer status (peer acceptance). These contradictory findings may be due to the function and timing of conduct problems influencing their impact on peer status. For example, a child who can modulate their conduct activities when there may be a negative outcome (e.g., stealing a toy from a highly reactive child) may be less likely to damage their peer status than a child who acts on their impulse without the consideration of potential consequences (e.g., stealing a peer's toy without considering their temperament). Given this information, in the present study, we hypothesized executive functioning would moderate the relation between conduct problems and peer rejection in a community sample of preschoolers.

Our sample consisted of 105 children from rural Ohio entering preschool in the 2017 and 2018 school years. Children completed an executive functioning task known as Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (Cameron-Ponitz et al., 2008) in the fall. Teachers completed the SDQ (Goodman et al., 2000) and the PSBS (Ostrov et al., 2004) mid-way through the school year to index conduct problems and peer status, respectively.

Regression analyses were conducted to examine the unique and interactive relations between conduct problems, executive functioning, and peer rejection. In the tested model, conduct problems accounted for a significant proportion of variance of peer rejection (R = .76). Further, there were significant main effects for conduct problems on peer rejection. There were no main effects for executive functioning. The interaction term consisting of conduct problems and executive functioning was significant (β = -.19, p = .007). Simple slope analyses were conducted to further probe the moderating effect of executive functioning. Results showed that at one standard deviation below the mean of executive functioning, conduct problems were more strongly related to peer rejection (β = .86, p < .001) than at one standard deviation above the mean of executive functioning (β = .43, p < .001).

Results from the moderation analysis indicate that for preschoolers with poorer executive functioning, the relation between conduct problems and peer rejection is more robust. It is possible that these relations were stronger for children with executive functioning deficits due to the lack of cognitive processes needed to engage in problematic conduct in a way that buffers their negative effects on peer status. These findings may provide insight into the mechanisms that aid in the development of peer rejection experienced by groups of children with executive functioning deficits, such as children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Further examination exploring what aspects of executive functioning may be interacting with conduct problems and if targeting these deficits changes their impact on peer rejection is needed.