%0 Journal Article
%T Peers Matter: Links Between ClassmatesĄŻ and Individual StudentsĄŻ Executive Functions in Elementary School
%A Elisa B. Garcia
%A Jelena ObradoviŁż
%A Jenna E. Finch
%A Michael J. Sulik
%J AERA Open
%@ 2332-8584
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/2332858419829438
%X StudentsĄŻ executive functions (EFs) are linked to school success. Although school-age children spend much of their time interacting with peers, few studies have explored how childrenĄŻs classmates may promote EF development in elementary school. In this study, we test whether mean levels and variability in classmatesĄŻ EF skills are associated with growth in individual studentsĄŻ accuracy and speed on EF tasks among third, fourth, and fifth graders (N = 806). We find that classmatesĄŻ speed, but not accuracy, on EF tasks is linked to significant improvements in individual studentsĄŻ EFs over the school year. ClassmatesĄŻ average EFs, as indexed by faster accurate responses on EF tasks, are associated with improvements in individual studentsĄŻ speed on EF tasks. These results were robust to the inclusion of individual studentsĄŻ general processing speed. In contrast, variability in classmatesĄŻ accuracy and speed on EF tasks was not associated with individual studentsĄŻ EF growth. Our results highlight the role of peers and the school context for EF development in middle childhood
%K executive functions
%K peer effects
%K middle childhood
%K elementary school
%K self-regulation
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332858419829438