Adversity in early childhood: Long-term effects on early academic skills

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). Newborns 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 (j8 = -0.06) and language skills (j8 = -0.04) in kindergarten. However, infant threat and deprivation were both associated with behavioral problems (j8 = 0.06; j8 = 0.04) and emotionregulation difficulties (j8 = 0.04; j8 = 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 preacademic skills. Furthermore, the results suggest that particularly chronic adversity poses a potential risk for development - across domains of cognition and emotions.

Automated summary

This study examined the differential effects of deprivation and threat experiences in infancy on pre-academic skills in early childhood. The results showed that chronic adversity exposure, particularly, posed a potential risk for development across domains of cognition and emotions.