Abstract

This study examined the effects of maternal instructional support, teacher­child relationship, and children's cool and hot executive functions on task-focused behaviors. Participants were 94 children aged 4 and their mothers and teachers. Data for maternal instructional support behaviors were observed from mother­child interactions when doing a puzzle and drawing with an Etch-a Sketch. Children's task-focused behaviors and teacher­child relationship were reported by teachers, and their cool and hot executive functions were assessed with a series of tasks provided by an experimenter. Path analyses showed that maternal instructional support was significantly related to children's cool executive function and influenced children's task-focused behavior by mediating cool executive function. Teacher­child relationship was significantly associated with children's cool and hot executive functions, and was also directly associated with children's task-focused behaviors. The relationship between teacher­child relationship and task-focused behaviors was partially mediated by children's cool and hot executive functions. In addition, cool and hot executive functions were independent but were both significant predictors of task-focused behaviors. These findings confirm mothers' and teachers' roles in children's development and learning, and provide backgrounds for the development of teacher education programs to support teacher­child relationships.