The influence of the home environment on children's development

Question 1

socioeconomic status (SES) 
define
best measures?
in the uk we use? - takes into account?

Answer 1

a measure of a persons economic and social position in relation to others

• refers to ones access to economic and social resources and social positioning, priviliges and prestige that derive from these resources
• NOT a single variable
• the effects of SES are indirect and accrue over time
• -Best measures:
  1) parents education
  2) family income
  3) parent occupation
• score derived from 3 factors = SES
• in the UK we can get a measure of SES from postcode based on a government data tool called the ‘index of multiple deprivation’ –> it considers neighbourhood characteristics including the income and employment level of an area

Question 2

Researchers suggest SES affects?

Answer 2

1) access to oppurtunities- money enables oppurtunities (eg. books, extracurricular activities = greater learning potential)
2) human capital -skills or knowledge of individuals (eg, parents education which they can pass on)
3) social capital- benefical connections in social networks
- -> results we look at are trends = need to avoid stereotyping and also having low expectations

Question 3

Links between SES and childrens cognitive development
Farah et al stufy
differences in 3 key areas?
marshmallow task
conclusion?

Answer 3

The cumulative experience of risk factors during a sensitive period of brain expansion and growth can compromise neurocognitive development
-Farah et al (2006) - studied children from low SES background and mid SES backgrounds found:
-a myriad of differences in 3 key areas:
1)language 2) memory 3) executive function
(no effect of SES on early reward processing)
—This contradicts previous findings that suggests lower SES children are more impulsive with rewards (eg. take small reward now rather than waiting for bigger reward later – marshmallow task)
-Farah et al suggests that the correlation between resisting impulses and SES emerges later in childhood
therefore, this effect may occur on a pragmatic adaptation to the contingencies learnt over time rather than as a direct result of SES influencing reward processing
Conclusion:
this research tells us: lower SES children tend to have poorer language and executive function skills (working memory and inhibitory control) –> therefore, given we know exec function are important for early maths, its possible individual differences in exec functions can account for SES based differences in kids maths skills

Question 4

Links between SES and childrens maths skills

Answer 4

The achievement gap in maths - there are pre-existing differences at school entry

• preschool children from low SES family = less maths knowledge when they begin school = less well prepared to learn = long term academic risk (may be due to less exposure to numbers which has a knock on effect on later skills as maths learning is incremental)
• educational inequalities associated with SES begin early in life:
• cross-cultural research in china and US found an SES-related gap in early maths knowledge at age 3 in all 3 countries = suggests variables linking SES to maths skills are present in early life
• the gap widens with time and becomes more pronounced with development – Rathburn and West - maths achievement gap between low and high SES children widened over the first 4 yrs of primary school
• gap appears to be a linear relationship: for maths and reading achievement, gap between bottom and top SES are roughly twice as large as between bottom and middle SES = suggests fairly linear ‘gradient’

Question 5

Pathways via cognition

-mediation model

Answer 5

1 pathway = low SES may affect maths skills through its effect on cognitive development
-is there a direct link between SES and maths skill? –> executive function may explain the link
a mediation model:
executive functions may mediate the the relationship between SES and a childs maths skills
-a mediator variable is one that explains the relationship between an IV (SES) and a DV (maths skill)

Question 6

Why are there links there between SES and cognitive development?
-2 main accounts?

Answer 6

1) The Investment Model = lower SES parents have less capital (resources/ assets) so are unable to invest as much in their children
2) stress model = lower SES leads to LT stress which has negative consequences biologically and can make parents less effective
=both accounts suggest SES interact with mechanisms that affect cognition, which then affects academic skill

Question 7

The investment model

Answer 7

-cognitive stimulation: lower SES kids tend to get less cognitive stimulation = read less often, watch more TV, attend lower quality day care
- resources - higher SES parents more likely to buy games or materials targeting academic skills for their children (availability of these at home predicts early maths scores)
-tools for maths thinking - high SES parents tend to use more language involving numbers.
SES differences in home activities:
-Starkey et al - found considerable difference between maths activities (in regard to nature and frequency) in low and mid-SES families
(mid-SES parents more likely to have a range of maths activities that were broader and played more frequently)
Blevins-Knabe & Musun-Miller (1996) went further to investigate the relation between parents’ maths practices and their child’s maths skills (in 4- to 6-year-olds).
– predicts maths skills?
-frequency of number-related activities positively correlated with maths skill
-over time - parental practices early in development predict maths skill longitudinally (number talk at home, age 2, predicts skill at age 4 - Levine et al)

Question 8

The stress model

Answer 8

chronic stress = stress that persists abnormally or that lasts for a long time either because it occurs repeatedly, episodically, continuously, or because it poses severe threats that aren’t easily adapted/overcome
-the model explains this: shows low SES causes stress and this stress can have a direct(brain changes) or indirect effect(behavioural problems=harsh parenting=brain changes) –> brain changes lead to emotional and cog. disadv (check lecture slides for model)
stress in kids from low SES = brain changes
stress in adults from low SES = nonoptimal parenting practices

Question 9

Direct effects of stress from low SES

Answer 9

chronic stress in early development has long term negative effect on brain development = poorer cognition

• stress influences the reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis(system that responds to stress and produces cortisol) = affects behaviour regulation +affecting brain areas such as the prefrontal cortex (underpins executive function)
• in low-resource, unpredictable environments, stress response systems develop to promote reactive rather than reflective self-regulation (Blair, 2011)
• cog. dev effects - more time kids spend in stressful condition more effect on bodily response to stress:
  eg. child will have higher basal rate of cortisol and a more muted reaction to a standard stressor (Evans and Kim, 2010)
• chronic stress in early childhood has effects on exec function development over time (high levels of cortisol at 7,15 and 24 months predicted low executive function at age 3)
• stress directly affects formation of new memories (particularly memories not associated with the stress episode) eg. children score lower on tests in school if there is a murder in the neighbourhood less than 1 week before (Sharkey, 2010)

Question 10

Indirect effects of stress from low SES

Answer 10

• more harsh and inconsistent parenting- due to stress making it harder to regulate your emotions and behaviour –> effect of this on kids = kids exec functions have been linked to cortisol (stress hormone) - Blair, 2011
• nurturing parenting can reverse these effects
• • Following a parental intervention designed to help parents identify distress and respond to this in a sensitive way, children had reduced HPA activity 9 months later (Fisher, et al., 2006).
• • HPA axis (=bodily structure that responds to stress) observed in foster kids before and after parental intervention (after = reduced HPA activity = less stressed)