The configurational pathways associated with executive function in preschool children: An fsQCA analysis based on gross motor skill development

The preschool years are a critical period for the rapid development of executive function in children. While executive function in preschool children is influenced by multiple factors, existing research has been limited by its theoretical and empirical perspectives, resulting in singular pathways for promoting executive function. To address this, the study adopted a systems theory perspective to explore the configurational pathways through which subsystems of gross motor skills are associated with higher levels of executive function in preschoolers. The study included test data from 67 children aged 3-6 years. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), six subsystems of gross motor skills (running, jumping, throwing, catching, kicking, and striking) were treated as antecedent conditions to explore the configurational associations of gross motor skill subsystems with executive function. Necessary condition analysis indicated that no single gross motor skill subsystem constituted a necessary condition for higher executive function in preschool children. Subsequent configurational analysis identified three distinct pathways that are associated with higher levels of executive function (with a total consistency of 0.906 and an overall coverage of 0.496). The development of executive function in preschool children is not associated with single gross motor actions in a linear manner but rather with multiple concurrent combinations of gross motor skill subsystems characterized by "multiple concurrent pathways leading to the same goal." This is reflected in the three configurational pathways: "a combination of jumping, throwing, and striking actions," "a combination of running, kicking, and striking actions," and "a combination of running, throwing, and catching actions." These findings provide preliminary insights and hypothesis-generating evidence for future research on gross motor skill activities and executive function development in preschool children.