Effects of the Home Environment and SES

Question 1

What is SES?

Answer 1

A measure of a person’s economic and social position in relation to others
One’s access to economic and social resources and the social positioning, privileges, and prestige that derive from these resources

Question 2

Effects of SES often ____ over time

Answer 2

Accrue

Question 3

SES is measured using a composite score of

Answer 3

Parent education
Family income
Parent occupation

Question 4

What else can you get an SES measure from in the UK?

Answer 4

Postcode

Question 5

What does the postcode SES measure consist of?

Answer 5

Income

Average level of employment

Question 6

What might SES effect?

Answer 6

Access to opportunities
Human capital
Social capital

Question 7

Access to opportunities

Answer 7

Money enables opportunities eg. books, out-of-school activities

Question 8

Human capital

Answer 8

Skills or knowledge of individuals eg parents can pass on education

Question 9

Social capital

Answer 9

Beneficial connections in social networks eg family or friends who may be able to offer your child internships etc

Question 10

Shonkoff & Philips (2000)

Answer 10

Cumulative experience of risk factors during a sensitive period of brain expansion and growth can compromise neurocognitive development

Question 11

Farah et al (2006)

Answer 11

Studied a group of children from low-SES households and a group of mid-SES household
They found differences in three areas of cognition
- Language
- Memory
- Executive functions
Found no effect on reward processing

Question 12

Explanation of Farah et al (2006)

Answer 12

Correlation between resisting impulses and SES emerges later in childhood
This effect could be a pragmatic adaptation to the contingencies learnt over time rather than as a direct result of SES influencing reward processing

Question 13

SES and cognitive development

Answer 13

Lower SES children tend to have poorer language and executive function skills

Question 14

Jordan, Huttenlocher & Levine (1994)

Answer 14

Preschool children from lower SES homes tend to begin school with lower maths skills than those from higher SES homes

Question 15

Duncan & Brooks-Gunn (1997)

Answer 15

Children from low SES families often arrive at school less prepared to learn, placing them at long-term academic risk

Question 16

Duncan et al (2007)

Answer 16

Less exposure to numbers in low SES homes has a knock on effect on later skills as maths learning is incremental

Question 17

Starkey & Klein (2008)

Answer 17

Cross-cultural research on early maths development in China, Japan and US found an SES-related age gap in early maths knowledge at age 3
Variables linking SES to maths skills are present early in life

Question 18

The achievement gap at school entry persists over time, and _____ with development

Answer 18

Becomes more pronounced

Question 19

Duncan & Magnuson (2012)

Answer 19

For maths and reading attainment, gaps between bottom and top SES groups are roughly twice as large as the bottom and middle of the SES distribution
Suggests a fairly linear SES gradient for those achievement measures

Question 20

Mediation model

Answer 20

Executive functions may mediate the relation between SES and children’s maths skills

Question 21

What is a mediator variable?

Answer 21

A variable that explains the relationship between an IV and a DV

Question 22

Two main accounts explaining the link between SES and cognitive development

Answer 22

Investment model
Stress model
Theories are no mutually exclusive

Question 23

Investment model summary

Answer 23

Lower SES have less capital so are unable to invest as much in their children

Question 24

Stress model summary

Answer 24

Lower SES leads to long-term stress which has negative consequences biologically and can make parents less effective

Question 25

Investment model - cognitive stimulation

Answer 25

Lower SES children tend to receive less cognitive stimulation; read less often, more watch more TV

Question 26

Investment model - resources

Answer 26

Higher SES parents are more likely to buy games or materials targeting academic skills

Question 27

Investment model - tools for maths thinking

Answer 27

Higher SES parents use more language involving numbers

Question 28

Starkey et al (1999)

Answer 28

Asked lower-SES and mid-SES parents about the nature and frequency of maths activity they provided for their 4 year olds
Mid-SES parents more likely to have a range of maths activities and were played with more frequently than low-SES

Question 29

Blevins-Knabe & Musun-Miller (1996)

Answer 29

Frequency with which children engaged in number-related activities at home the previous week was positively correlated with maths skills

Question 30

Levine et al (2010)

Answer 30

Number talk at home at age 2 predicts maths skills at age 4

Question 31

Stress influences how your _____ responds

Answer 31

HPA axis

Question 32

The HPA axis produces ____

Answer 32

Cortisol

Question 33

Blair (2011)

Answer 33

In low-resource, unpredictable environments, stress response systems develop in a way that promotes reactive rather than reflective self-regulation

Question 34

Evans & Kim (2010)

Answer 34

The longer children live in stressful conditions, the more this will effect their bodily response to stress
Children will have a higher basal rate of cortisol and a more muted reaction to standard stressors

Question 35

Blair et al (2011)

Answer 35

High salivary cortisol at 7, 15 and 24 months were associated with lower executive functions

Question 36

Stress directly affects ______, particularly _____ not associated with the stress response

Answer 36

The formation of new memories

Memories

Question 37

Why does stress affect memory?

Answer 37

Due to the disregulation of the HPA axis

Hippocampus is important in long-term memories

Question 38

Indirect pathway of stress through parenting

Answer 38

Stress can affect cognition indirectly via more harsh and inconsistent parenting
Stress makes it harder to regulate emotions and behaviour

Question 39

Can nurturing parenting reverse the effects of stress?

Answer 39

Yes