TY - JOUR
PY - 2022//
TI - Adversity in early childhood: long-term effects on early academic skills
JO - Child abuse and neglect
A1 - Oeri, Niamh
A1 - Roebers, Claudia M.
SP - e105507
EP - e105507
VL - 125
IS -
N2 - BACKGROUND: The dimensional adversity model (McLaughlin & Sheridan, 2016) proposes that deprivation and threat affect child development differently. However, empirical support for the dimensional adversity model stems predominately from adolescent samples.
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine if deprivation and threat experiences in infancy have differential effects on pre-academic skills in early childhood. Furthermore, we addressed the effect of chronic vs. temporary adversity exposure in infancy. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The population-based sample consisted of 3481 infants (49% girls). New-borns and their families were followed longitudinally (6 months to 6 years of age).
METHODS: Based on parental information, we computed four deprivation variables and three threat variables. Pre-academic cognitive and social-emotional skills were measured with a math and a vocabulary test and parental questionnaires on emotion regulation and behavioral problems.
RESULTS: Results showed that infant deprivation (but not threat) is negatively associated with math scores (β = -0.06) and language skills (β = -0.04) in kindergarten. However, infant threat and deprivation were both associated with behavioral problems (β = 0.06; β = 0.04) and emotion-regulation difficulties (β = 0.04; β = 0.03) in kindergarten. Analyses comparing chronic vs. temporary adversity exposure showed that chronic exposure was strongly related to all cognitive and social-emotional outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: We found partial support for the differential effects of deprivation and threat on pre-academic skills. Furthermore, the results suggest that particularly chronic adversity poses a potential risk for development - across domains of cognition and emotions.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0145-2134 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105507 ID - ref1 ER -