the influence of the home environment on childrens development Flashcards
what are executive functions?
high level cognitive skills involved in goal directed thinking e.g. WM and inhibitory control
what is socioeconmic status
SES?
measure of a persons economic and social position in relation to others
= access to economic and social resources and the social positioning, privileges and prestige that derive from these resources
is SES a single variable ?
no
e.g. time, money, education
the effects of SES are ______ and _____ over time
indirect and accrue ( the gap widens over time)
what are the 3 factors SES factors used to make a composite score
1) parent education
2) family income
3) parent occupation
in the uk we can get a measure of SES from ______
-postcode
using the index of multiple deprivation
what 3 things can SES affect?
1) access to opportunities
(books, out of school activities = greater learning potential)
2) human capital
(e.g. parents education that they can pass on)
3) social capital
(beneficial connections in social networks e.g. family friends that can provide internships)
when looking into SES we are looking at ______
TRENDS
- important to avoid steretyping
The cumlative experience of _________ during a sensitive period of brain expansion and growth can compromise neurocognitive development
shonkoff& phillips, 2000
risk factors
e.g. poor nutrition, high stress household
the more risk factors and for long time = impact
paartic case in sensitive periods
executive functions rapidly develop through the preschool years between
2 & 5 years old
= when can see SES affect executive function
_____ studied a group of children from low SES households and a group from mid SES households.
They found differences in 3 areas of cognition: language, memory and executive functions
Farah et al 2006
interestingly ____ didnt find any affect on reward processing
= goes against other studies
Farah et al 2006
= suggests happens later in development, as an adaptive response in later life
how to measure reward processing?
the marshmallow tast
= presented w 1, if you wait until i come back you can have 2
how does SES affect reward processing usually
low SES dont wait
older children = more likely are to wait
why do low SES c not wait on reward processing task?
because of their unpredictable/chaotic environments
e.g. if get treat on day, makes sense to get reward now
Farrah et al shows that _______ SES children tend to have ______ language and _______ skills (wm and inhibitory control)
lower
poorer
executive function
if we know that _______are important for early maths, its possible that individual differences in _________ can account for SES based differences in cs maths skills
executive functions
executive functions
are there pre existing differences at school entry depending on SES background?
yes
lower SES fams begin school w less maths knowledge than preschoolers from higher SES fams
children from _____ SES families arrive in school less well prepared to learn, placing them @ long term academic risk
lower
why may lower SES c arrive less prepared to learn in school regarding maths?
because they have had less exposure to numbers which has a knock on effect on later skills as maths learning in incremental
cross-culteral research on early maths development in china,japan and US found an __________ in early maths knowledge @ 3yrs in all countries
suggesting varialbles linking SES to maths skills are present early in life
SES related gap
= not just westernised phenomenon
the achievement gap at school ________ over time
widens
= more pronounced with development
rathbun & west 02 found a ________ @ school entry between lower SES c and higher SES c
gap widened over first 4 years of primary school
maths achievement gap
the relationship between maths and reading attainement and SES is _______
linear
- suggesting gaps between the top SES groups are roughly twice as large as the bottom and middle of the SES distribution
