Bilingualism Narrows Socioeconomic Disparities in Executive Functions and Self-Regulatory Behaviors During Early Childhood: Evidence From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study

Socioeconomic status (SES) and bilingualism have been shown to influence executive functioning during early childhood. Less is known, however, about how the two factors interact within an individual. By analyzing a nationally representative sample of approximately 18,200 children who were tracked from ages 5 to 7 across four waves, both higher SES and bilingualism were found to account for greater performance on the inhibition and shifting aspects of executive functions (EF) and self-regulatory behaviors in classroom. However, only SES reliably predicted verbal working memory. Furthermore, bilingualism moderated the effects of SES by ameliorating the detrimental consequences of low-SES on EF and self-regulatory behaviors. These findings underscore bilingualism's power to enrich executive functioning and self-regulatory behaviors, especially among underprivileged children.     

Developmental effects of childhood household adversity,transitions, and relationship quality on adult outcomes of socioeconomic status: Effects of substantiated child maltreatment

The degree to which child maltreatment interacts with other household adversities to exacerbate risk for poor adult socioeconomic outcomes is uncertain. Moreover, the effects of residential, school, and caregiver transitions during childhood on adult outcomes are not well understood. This study examined the relation between household adversity and transitions in childhood with adult income problems, education, and unemployment in individuals with or without a childhood maltreatment history. The potential protective role of positive relationship quality in buffering these risk relationships was also tested. Data were from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study (n = 457), where subjects were assessed at preschool, elementary, adolescent, and adult ages. Multiple group path analysis tested the relationships between childhood household adversity; residential, school, and caregiver transitions; and adult socioeconomic outcomes for each group. Caregiver relationship quality was included as a moderator, and gender as a covariate. Household adversity was negatively associated with education level and positively associated with income problems for non-maltreated children only. For both groups, residential transitions was negatively associated with education level and caregiver transitions was positively associated with unemployment problems. Relationship quality was positively associated with education level only for non-maltreated children. For children who did not experience maltreatment, reducing exposure to household adversity is an important goal for prevention. Reducing exposure to child maltreatment for all children remains an important public health priority. Results underscore the need for programs and policies that promote stable relationships and environments.     

Intimate partner violence during infancy and cognitive outcomes in middle childhood: Results from an Australian community-based mother and child cohort study

The cognitive functioning of children who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) has received less attention than their emotional-behavioral outcomes. Drawing upon data from 615 (48.4% female) 10-year-old Australian-born children and their mothers (9.6% of mothers born in non-English speaking countries) participating in a community-based longitudinal study between 2004 and 2016, this study examined the associations between IPV in infancy and cognition in middle childhood (at age 10). Results showed that IPV in the first 12 months of life was associated with lower general cognitive ability and poorer executive attention but not working memory skills. IPV in middle childhood (in the 10th year postpartum) was not associated with cognition. This study provides evidence for the long-term impact of early life exposure to IPV on children's cognition, and points to the importance of early intervention to optimize development.     

Parent-child aggression,adult-partner violence,and child outcomes: A prospective,population-based study

Parent-child physical aggression (PCPA) and adult intimate partner violence (IPV) are common forms of family violence that often co-occur. Their deleterious effects on children and adolescents have been well documented. However, important questions remain regarding whether the type of violence exposure, the experience of one or both forms, the chronicity of violent experiences, and the age, gender, and SES of the child, differentially influence developmental outcomes. Data on 2810 children from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods were analyzed. Children aged 3–9 at the outset were assessed three times, at 3-year intervals. Primary caregivers reported on IPV, PCPA, and children’s externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Children’s externalizing and internalizing symptoms were examined as a function of time, age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and the time-varying effects of cumulative IPV and PCPA exposure. Cumulative experiences of IPV and PCPA each adversely affected the developmental trajectories of both externalizing and internalizing symptoms, but in different ways; and they did so independently of participants’ age, gender, or SES, which all functioned as significant, independent predictors of child outcomes. PCPA was by far the more potent of the two forms of violence; and when both forms occurred, they worked additively to affect outcomes. Important questions remain regarding the reasons for the differential potency of these two forms of family violence on childhood symptoms, and related implications for interventions, as well as for later adult behavior.     

Childhood correlates of adult ego development

The present study examined family socioeconomic indicators, parent child-rearing variables, and childhood and adolescent behaviors, which were hypothesized to predict adult ego development. The subjects were 206 females and 192 males, ages 30-31, who began participating in a longitudinal study at age 8. At that time, interviews with their parents yielded data on family background variables and child-rearing practices. Peer-nominations and other testing procedures with the children yielded data on the children's cognitive and behavioral styles at ages 8 and 19. At age 30, the subjects completed the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development. Results confirmed the hypotheses that child-rearing styles characterized by acceptance, a nonauthoritarian approach to punishment, and identification of the child with the parent related to higher levels of adult ego development 22 years later. These relations obtained more strongly for females than for males. In addition, childhood and adolescent indicators of impulse control and cognitive development (nonaggression, prosocial behavior, and intelligence) were associated with higher levels of adult ego development. Finally, hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that the development of aggression was linked to adult ego level attainment in males, while the development of prosocial behavior was related to adult ego development in females.     

Role of Cognitively Stimulating Home Environment in Children's Academic Intrinsic Motivation: A Longitudinal Study

The short- and long-term, and direct and indirect, relations between cognitively stimulating home environment and academic intrinsic motivation were investigated in a longitudinal study from childhood through early adolescence. Structural equations modeling was used to test the hypothesis that home environment positively predicts academic intrinsic motivation over this period. It was also hypothesized that home environmental processes would positively predict motivation controlling for socioeconomic status (SES). When children were age 8, home environment (comprising both direct observations and parent report) and SES were measured. Academic intrinsic motivation was assessed at ages 9, 10, and 13. Results supported the hypotheses. Home environment had statistically positive and significant, direct and indirect paths to academic intrinsic motivation from childhood through early adolescence, indicating both short- and long-term effects across these ages. Moreover, home environment was significant above and beyond SES. The findings revealed that children whose homes had a greater emphasis on learning opportunities and activities were more academically intrinsically motivated.     

Adverse childhood experiences and behavioral problems in middle childhood

Children who have been exposed to maltreatment and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at increased risk for various negative adult health outcomes, including cancer, liver disease, substance abuse, and depression. However, the proximal associations between ACEs and behavioral outcomes during the middle childhood years have been understudied. In addition, many of the ACE studies contain methodological limitations such as reliance on retrospective reports and limited generalizability to populations of lower socioeconomic advantage. The current study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national urban birth cohort, to prospectively assess the adverse experiences and subsequent behavior problems of over 3000 children. Eight ACE categories to which a child was exposed by age 5 were investigated: childhood abuse (emotional and physical), neglect (emotional and physical), and parental domestic violence, anxiety or depression, substance abuse, or incarceration. Results from bivariate analyses indicated that Black children and children with mothers of low education were particularly likely to have been exposed to multiple ACE categories. Regression analyses showed that exposure to ACEs is strongly associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors and likelihood of ADHD diagnosis in middle childhood. Variation in these associations by racial/ethnic, gender, and maternal education subgroups are examined. This study provides evidence that children as young as 9 begin to show behavioral problems after exposure to early childhood adversities.     

Socioeconomic status, parental investments, and the cognitive and behavioral outcomes of low-income children from immigrant and native households

The current study examines the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on preschool children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes and if these relations are mediated by the quality of children's home environment and moderated by family nativity status. Data come from 1459 low-income families (n = 257 and 1202 immigrant and native families, respectively). Results indicated that among both immigrant and native households, maternal education, as compared to household income or welfare receipt, was the strongest predictor of a composite of SES. Path analyses estimated direct and indirect effects of SES and revealed greater similarity than difference in the processes by which SES influences immigrant and native children's preschool outcomes. Language/literacy stimulation and maternal supportiveness mediated the relations of SES to children's cognitive outcomes among both immigrant and native families. In contrast, parenting stress mediated the effects of SES on children's aggressive behavior among native, but not immigrant, households.     

Mapping the Trajectory of Socioeconomic Disparity in Working Memory: Parental and Neighborhood Factors

Working memory (WM) is positively correlated with socioeconomic status (SES). It is not clear, however, if SES predicts the rate of WM development over time or whether SES effects are specific to family rather than neighborhood SES. A community sample of children (n = 316) enrolled between ages 10 and 13 completed four annual assessments of WM. Lower parental education, but not neighborhood disadvantage, was associated with worse WM performance. Neither measure of SES was associated with the rate of developmental change. Consequently, the SES disparity in WM is not a developmental lag that narrows or an accumulating effect that becomes more pronounced. Rather, the relation between family SES and WM originates earlier in childhood and is stable through adolescence.     

Tracking vocabulary and reading growth in children from lower and higher socioeconomic backgrounds during the transition from primary to secondary education

We examined the relation between socioeconomic status (SES), vocabulary, and reading in middle childhood, during the transition from primary (elementary) to secondary (high) school. Children (N = 279, 163 girls) completed assessments of everyday and curriculum-related vocabulary, (non)word reading, and reading comprehension at five timepoints from age 10 to 13. Piecewise linear mixed-effects models showed significant growth in everyday vocabulary and word reading between every time point. Curriculum vocabulary and reading comprehension showed significant growth during the school year, but not during the summer holidays. There were significant effects of SES on all measures except word reading; yet, SES differences did not widen over time. Our findings motivate targeted reading and vocabulary support for secondary school students from lower SES backgrounds.     

Social inequalities in early childhood competences,and the relative role of social and emotional versus cognitive skills in predicting adult outcomes

This study draws on the nationally representative British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70) to examine (1) the association between social background and early socio-emotional and cognitive competences at age 5 and (2) the relative and independent contributions of early socio-emotional and cognitive competences to educational and socio-economic attainment in adulthood. A multi-dimensional (multiple exposure, multiple outcome) approach is adopted in conceptualising social background, childhood competences and adult outcomes by age 42. Indicators of social background include parental education, social class, employment status, family income, as well as home ownership, enabling us to test which aspects of socio-economic risk uniquely influence the development of early competences. Indicators of childhood competences include directly assessed cognitive competences (i.e. verbal and visual motor skills), while measures of socio-emotional competences include hyperactivity, good conduct, emotional health and social skills, reported by the child’s mother at age 5. Adult outcomes include highest qualifications, social class and household income by age 42. The findings suggest that multiple indicators of social background are associated with both socio-emotional and cognitive competences, although the associations with socio-emotional competences are less strong than those with cognitive competences. We find significant long-term predictive effects of early cognitive skills on adult outcomes, but also independent effects of socio-emotional competences, in particular self-regulation, over and above the role of family background. The study supports calls for early interventions aiming to reduce family socio-economic risk exposure and supporting the development of cognitive skills and self-regulation (i.e. reducing hyperactivity and conduct problems).     

Early-Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment, Behavior, and Health

This article assesses the consequences of poverty between a child's prenatal year and 5th birthday for several adult achievement, health, and behavior outcomes, measured as late as age 37. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1,589) and controlling for economic conditions in middle childhood and adolescence, as well as demographic conditions at the time of the birth, findings indicate statistically significant and, in some cases, quantitatively large detrimental effects of early poverty on a number of attainment-related outcomes (adult earnings and work hours). Early-childhood poverty was not associated with such behavioral measures as out-of-wedlock childbearing and arrests. Most of the adult earnings effects appear to operate through early poverty's association with adult work hours.     

Socioeconomic background,education, and labor force outcomes: evidence from a regional US sample

This paper examines the long-term association of family socioeconomic status (SES), educational, and labor force outcomes in a regional US longitudinal sample (N = 2264). The results offer insights into the mechanisms underlying the role of family SES in transitions from secondary schooling to early work experiences. It was found that the academic achievement gap associated with SES widens during secondary schooling due in part to course-level tracking. Family SES relates to college enrollment mainly via its association with academic gains in school, but also through family income and father’s occupational status. Family SES is weakly but significantly related to adult offspring’s earnings but more strongly related to occupational status. Educational qualifications and cognitive skills make independent contributions to the explanation of labor force outcomes.     

Planning in Middle Childhood: Early Predictors and Later Outcomes

Data from 1,364 children and families who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were analyzed to track the early correlates and later academic outcomes of planning during middle childhood. Maternal education, through its effect on parenting quality when children were 54 months old, predicts their concurrent performance on sustained attention, inhibition, and short‐term verbal memory tests. This performance predicts planning in first grade, which predicts third‐grade reading and mathematics attainment, but not the rate of growth in academic skills from first to fifth grades. This path was also found when the same parenting, cognitive, and academic constructs were measured at later time points.     

Predictors of psychological distress and positive resources among Palestinian adolescents: trauma, child, and mothering characteristics

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine how traumatic and stressful events, responses to violence, child characteristics, and mothering quality, as measured in middle childhood predict psychological distress and positive resources in adolescence. METHOD: The participants were 65 Palestinian adolescents (17+/-.85 years; 52% girls), who had been studied during the First Intifada (T1), during the Palestinian Authority rule (T2) and before the Second Al Aqsa Intifada (T3) in Gaza. Psychological distress was indicated by PTSD, and depressive symptoms and positive resources by resilient attitudes and satisfaction with quality of life, all measured at T3. The predictors that were measured at T1 were exposure to military violence, active coping with violence and children's intelligence, cognitive capacity, and neuroticism. Mothering quality and stressful life-events were measured at T2, the former reported by both the mother and the child, and the latter by the mother. RESULTS: Adolescents' PTSD symptoms were most likely if they had been exposed to high levels of traumatic and stressful experiences and had poor cognitive capacity and high neuroticism in middle childhood. Only high levels of childhood military violence and stressful life-events predicted high depressive symptoms and low satisfaction with quality of life in adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: Military violence in childhood forms risks for both increased psychological distress and decreased positive resources. However, child characteristics such as cognitive capacity and personality are important determinants of psychological vulnerability in military trauma.     

The Interaction of Early Maternal Responsiveness and Children's Cognitive Abilities on Later Decoding and Reading Comprehension Skills

This longitudinal study evaluated the extent to which maternal responsiveness across early childhood and children's cognitive skills predicted children's 8-year decoding and reading comprehension skills for children who varied in biological risk (term, n = 83; preterm, n = 155). Patterns of maternal responsiveness during infancy (6, 12, and 24 months) and preschool (3 and 4 years) revealed 4 maternal clusters that varied in consistency and level of maternal responsiveness. Although not predictive of decoding skills, the interaction between children's 4-year cognitive ability and maternal responsiveness cluster predicted children's reading comprehension skills at 8 years of age, regardless of risk. Although consistently high levels of maternal responsive parenting across early childhood related to literacy outcomes for all children in the study, responsive parenting had a stronger relation to later reading comprehension skills for children with lower cognitive abilities, particularly when mothers demonstrated high responsiveness in children's infancy.     

Antecedents and outcomes of joint trajectories of mother-son conflict and warmth during middle childhood and adolescence

This study investigated the development of mother-son relationship quality from ages 5 to 15 in a sample of 265 low-income families. Nonparametric random effects modeling was utilized to uncover distinct and homogeneous developmental trajectories of conflict and warmth; antecedents and outcomes of the trajectory groups also were examined. Four conflict trajectory groups and 3 warmth trajectory groups were identified. Difficult temperament in early childhood discriminated both conflict and warmth trajectory group membership (TGM), and adult relationship quality in early childhood was related to warmth trajectories. In addition, conflict TGM differentiated youth antisocial behavior during adolescence, and warmth trajectories predicted adolescent peer relationship quality and youth moral disengagement. Implications for socialization processes are discussed.     

Genetic risk,childhood obesity,and educational achievements

We use the genetic risk exclusively related to body mass index as an instrumental variable to examine the causal effects of childhood obesity on educational achievements. We find that childhood obesity decreases high school GPA by 0.92 grade points (33.0%), GPAs of different subjects by 0.72–1.11 grade points (21.7–42.6%), the probability of college enrollment by 0.37, the probability of college completion by 0.65, and years of schooling by 2.19 years (14.8%). Additionally, we explore potential underlying mechanisms through which childhood obesity adversely influences educational outcomes. Our results indicate that childhood obesity does not have a statistically significant influence on cognitive abilities. Nevertheless, it negatively affects educational achievements via health factors (overall health status, health-damaging behaviors, and psychological well-being), school absenteeism and aggression, college aspirations and expectations, and family dynamics. This research provides evidence that childhood obesity can hinder children's educational progress, potentially affecting adult outcomes and exacerbating economic inequality.     

Mother's age at arrival in the United States and early cognitive development

This paper focuses on the cognitive development of young children from diverse backgrounds with a particular focus on ethnic and nativity differences in home environments. Hypotheses are developed addressing the extent to which home environment and parenting practices mediate the relationship between mother's age at arrival and cognitive development in early childhood. Data from the first two waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth cohort are employed. Children whose mothers arrived in the United States at the youngest ages (0–7 years) have similar cognitive scores to children whose mothers are born in the United States once socioeconomic status and family background are considered. Multivariate analyses indicate parenting practices and home environment are associated with cognitive development and act as partial mediators between cognitive scores and mother's age at arrival. Overall, the results highlight the need to consider parental migration experiences and differences in the home environments of children of immigrants in the United States as sources of variation in outcomes for the second-generation.     

Influence and Involvement in Children''s Discourse: Age, Gender, and Partner Effects

Children's discourse with peers was examined in relation to speaker gender, partner gender, and age level. 138 children were matched with either a same- or an other-gender peer at the early childhood and middle childhood age levels (median ages = 5 and 7 years) and asked to play with puppets for 10 min. Speech acts were coded as either collaborative (affiliative involvement and direct influence), controlling (distancing involvement and direct influence), obliging (affiliative involvement and nondirect influence), or withdrawing (distancing involvement and nondirect influence). Girls' and boys' communication patterns were more similar than different. However, gender-related differences with medium to large effect sizes were found. Gender-typed communications were more likely at the middle childhood than the early childhood age level and in same-gender than mixed-gender dyads. The findings are interpreted in terms of developmental and contextual accounts of gender and social behavior. Recommendations for future research are offered.