Examining the dimensions of inhibition and its relations to early academic skills and externalizing behaviors in a preschool-age sample

• Inhibition is a unitary process in preschool-age children. • The Inhibition factor was related to early academic outcomes. • The Inhibition factor was related to teachers’ ratings of ADHD-related behaviors. Inhibitory processes have been consistently linked to children’s academic and behavioral outcomes. Researchers have argued that response inhibition (i.e., the ability to suppress a prepotent response) and interference suppression (i.e., the ability to ignore task-irrelevant information) represent two distinct constructs in preschool-age children and may be differentially related to children’s academic and behavioral outcomes. However, due to issues with study design, the structure of inhibitory processes and their specific relations to academic and behavioral outcomes remains unclear. The goals of this study were to determine the structure of inhibitory processes with preschool-age children using tasks counterbalanced by measurement method (i.e., computerized vs. non-computerized) and to examine their relations to children’s early academic and behavioral outcomes. In this study, 167 preschool-age children were assessed on measures of response inhibition, interference suppression, and early academic skills (i.e., phonological awareness and early math). Teachers of participating children completed a measure of externalizing behaviors (i.e., the CTRS-15). Contrary to the reported results of other studies of preschool-age children, a two-factor model consisting of separate response inhibition and interference suppression factors did not provide a better fit than a one-factor model of inhibition. Results indicated that the unitary Inhibition factor was similarly related to phonological awareness and early math skills. The unitary Inhibition factor was significantly associated with ADHD-related behaviors but not oppositional-defiant behaviors. Implications of findings and future directions are discussed.