Abstract—The development of personal executive function is not only associated with the maturity of the related cerebrum region but also closely related to parenting style. As the first adopter of children, parents' parenting style influences children's cognition, socialization and personality development. This is a quantitative study which aims to investigate the development characteristics of the executive function (cool and hot) in boys and girls aged 3-5 years in China. Then, the relationship between the parenting style and executive function will be further explored. Through the analysis of data statistics by SPSS, the following research results are obtained: Firstly, There were significant age differences in the development of cool executive function in children aged 3-5 years, but not in hot executive function. Children have a better performance on the cool executive function as their age grows. Secondly, There was no significant gender difference in cool and hot executive functions in 3-5 years old children. Boys and girls do not differ significantly in performance on executive function tasks. Finally, The emotional warmth dimension in parenting style shows a tentative significant correlation with cool executive function, especially the hand games task. The other dimensions of parenting style are unrelated to cool and hot executive functions.
 

Index Terms—cool executive function, hot executive function, parenting style, early years

Cite: Mengxuan Gao, "The Relationship between Parenting Style and Executive Function of Chinese Boys and Girls Aged 3-5 Years," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 238-243, December 2022. doi: 10.18178/ijlt.8.4.238-243