虽然过去的研究已经给出了许多关于执行功能与阅读能力之间存在双向关系的结论，但这些研究仍存在一些不可忽视的问题：1）研究的重点主要集中在执行功能对阅读能力的影响上；2）研究群体大多集中于学龄前或低年级，且较多使用横断研究或追踪时间较短的纵向研究；3）无法分离个体间与个体内的差异来源。为了解决上述问题，本研究选用ECLS-K: 2011数据库连续六年的测试数据，使用结构化残差潜变量曲线模型（LCM-SR）将个体内和个体间的差异来源分离开，进一步探索儿童执行功能和阅读的发展轨迹与相互关系。

研究一探究了幼儿园到五年级阶段，儿童执行功能和阅读能力的发展轨迹。通过潜变量曲线模型（LCM）和单变量LCM-SR拟合后发现，执行功能（工作记忆和认知灵活性）均呈现二次增长趋势，随着年龄增长能力提升，但增速逐渐下降；阅读能力呈现分段曲线增长趋势，一年级秋季前后分别呈现增速下降的能力增长；加入结构化残差能够有效提高模型拟合。

研究二使用双变量的LCM-SR，探索执行功能和阅读能力残差之间的交叉滞后关系。结果表明，执行功能和阅读能力的变化发展主要能够由个体间自身随年龄的发展解释，而在分离了个体间的发展部分后，个体内执行功能与阅读能力的关系变弱，其中个体内工作记忆与阅读能力之间没有相互影响，个体内的认知灵活性与阅读能力之间存在相互影响，但影响程度较小且方向为负向。

Although past studies have yielded many conclusions about the bidirectional relationship between executive functions (EF) and reading, there are still some problems that cannot be ignored: 1) they mainly focus on the unidirectional way of EF on reading ability; 2) the subjects are concentrated in preschool or early school age, and cross-sectional studies are frequently used; 3) between-person and within-person associations between EF and reading can’t be separated. Using data from a subsample of participants from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten, 2010–2011 (ECLS-K:2011) cohort, we estimated a series of latent growth curve models with structured residuals to test the between- and within-person associations between EF and reading from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Study 1 explored the trajectory of EF and reading in children from kindergarten through fifth grade. Through the fitting of the latent variable curve model (LCM) and univariate unconditional LCM-SR, we find that 2 dimensions of EF (working memory, cognitive flexibility) presented a trend of quadratic growth, and reading ability presented a trend of piecewise growth. The addition of structural residuals can effectively improve the model fitting.

Study 2 explored the cross-lagged correlation between EF and reading ability residuals using bivariate LCM-SR. It turns out that between-person effects account for a large proportion of EF and reading development. With respect to within-person effects, there is no cross-lagged correlation from reading to working memory or from working memory to reading. Cognitive flexibility and reading interact with each other, but to a lesser degree and in a negative direction.

The results show that the close relationship between EF and reading obtained in previous studies is mainly caused by the between-person effect. When between- and within-person associations are separated, the relationship between EF and reading is reduced to insignificant, even negatively affected. The research on the relationship between executive function and reading ability needs to be further deepened in order to play the expected guiding role in teaching practice.