TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lensing, Johanna Nele
A1  - Elsner, Birgit
T1  - Cool executive functioning predicts not only mean levels but also individual 3-year growth trajectories of zBMI in elementary-school children
JF  - International Journal of Behavioral Development
N2  - Executive functions (EFs) may help children to regulate their food-intake in an “obesogenic” environment, where energy-dense food is easily available. There is mounting evidence that overweight is associated with diminished hot and cool EFs, and several longitudinal studies found evidence for a predictive effect of hot EFs on children’s bodyweight, but longitudinal research examining the effect of cool EF on weight development in children is still scarce. The current 3-year longitudinal study examined the effect of a latent cool EF factor, which was based on three behavioral EF tasks, on subsequent mean levels and 3-year growth trajectories of body-mass-index z-scores (zBMI). Data from a large sample of children, with zBMI ranging from normal weight to obesity (n = 1474, aged 6–11 years at T1, 52% girls) was analyzed using structural-equation modeling and linear latent growth-curve modeling. Cool EF at the first wave (T1) negatively predicted subsequent zBMI and zBMI development throughout the 3-year period in middle childhood such that children with better EF had a lower zBMI and less steep zBMI growth. These effects were not moderated by the children’s age or gender. In conclusion, as early as in middle childhood, cool EFs seem to support the self-regulation of food-intake and consequently may play a causal role in the multifactorial etiology of overweight.
KW  - BMI development
KW  - zBMI
KW  - middle childhood
KW  - cool executive functioning
KW  - self-regulation
KW  - longitudinal
KW  - growth-curve model
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025419833818
SN  - 0165-0254
SN  - 1464-0651
VL  - 43
IS  - 4
SP  - 351
EP  - 362
PB  - Sage Publ.
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Lensing, Johanna Nele
T1  - Executive Functions in Middle Childhood
BT  - Developmental Trajectories and  Associations with Body Weight
N2  - This doctoral dissertation aims at elucidating the development of hot and cool executive functions in middle childhood and at gaining insight about their role in childhood overweight. The dissertation is based on three empirical studies which have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Data from a large 3-year longitudinal study (the “PIER-study”) was used. 
The findings presented in the dissertation demonstrated that both hot and cool EF abilities increase during middle childhood. They also supported the notion that hot and cool EF facets are distinguishable from each other in middle childhood, that they have distinct developmental trajectories, and different predictors. 
Evidence was found for associations of hot and cool EF with body weight in middle childhood, which is in line with the notion that they might play a role in the self-regulation of eating and the multifactorial etiology of childhood overweight.
KW  - self-regulation
KW  - executive function
KW  - overweight
KW  - middle childhood
Y1  - 2018
ER  -