Adverse childhood experiences and children's development in early care and education programs

Early Literacy Developmental Activities and Pre-Kindergarten Learning Skills in the Context of Childhood Adversity

OBJECTIVE

School readiness (SR) encompasses a wide range of skills that affect children's ability to succeed in school and later in life. Shared reading is an important strategy that assists children in gaining SR skills, whereas adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) negatively affect a child's SR. This study assessed if early literacy developmental activities (shared reading, singing, or storytelling) were associated with improved SR among children with and without ACEs.

METHODS

2020-2021 National Survey of Children's Health data were used for analysis. We identified children aged 3-5 years to assess their exposure to ACEs, participation in reading/storytelling/singing, and overall SR.

RESULTS

In a sample of 17,545 children, 29% of children were exposed to one or more ACEs. Seventy-seven percent of children with no ACEs received daily early literacy developmental activities compared to 23% of children who experienced any ACE. On ordinal logistic regression, daily early literacy developmental activities were associated with 56% greater odds of higher SR among children not exposed to ACEs (OR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.29, 1.88; P < .01). Among children exposed to ACEs, daily early literacy developmental activities were also associated with higher SR (OR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.13; P = .02).

CONCLUSIONS

Shared reading, storytelling, and singing are associated with improved SR in both children who have and have not been exposed to ACEs. However, children exposed to ACEs had fewer experiences with early literacy developmental activities. Future efforts should address the barriers that limit shared reading, singing, or storytelling for children exposed to ACEs.

Conceptualizing adverse childhood experiences as a latent factor: Tests of measurement invariance across five racial and ethnic groups

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are conventionally measured using a cumulative-risk index without consideration of distinct measurement properties across racial and ethnic groups. Drawing from the 2018-2020 National Survey of Children's Health (N = 93,759; 48% female; average age: 9.52 years), we assess the measurement invariance of a latent-factor ACE model across five groups: Hispanic children (14%) and non-Hispanic White (73%), Black (7%), Asian/Pacific Islander (5%), and American Indian/Alaskan Native (1%) children. Results support configural and full metric invariance across groups. However, several ACE item thresholds differed across groups. Findings highlight the potential utility of a latent factor approach and underscore the need to assess differences across racial and ethnic groups in terms of the optimal conceptualization and measurement of ACEs.

Assessing adverse childhood experiences in young refugees: a systematic review of available questionnaires

Today, various questionnaires are available to assess Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in children; however, it is uncertain if these questionnaires are comprehensive in addressing adversities of vulnerable subgroups, specifically refugee children. This review's objectives are to (1) identify current ACE questionnaires and determine if they are suitable in assessing refugee children's adversities, and (2) identify those previously used within a refugee population. A systematic literature search was conducted across five databases for articles published since 2010, including studies using an ACE-questionnaire that recognized multiple adversities in healthy children and were published in English. A total of 103 ACE questionnaires were identified in 506 studies. Only 14 of the 103 questionnaires addressed a refugee-specific adversity. Their ability to capture refugee children's experiences was limited: available questionnaires used a maximum of three items to assess refugee-specific adversities, covering only a fraction of forms of adversities relevant to refugee children. Psychometric characteristics were rarely reported. In addition, only two ACE questionnaires were used within a refugee population. With the tools currently available, it is not possible to comprehensively assess the exposure to and severity of the adversities faced by refugee children. The perpetuation of ongoing crises necessitates assessing refugee children's adversities to understand how their wellbeing is affected and to identify children at risk.

Young children's development after forced displacement: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

To examine the impact of displacement experiences on 0- to 6-year-old children's social-emotional and cognitive development, as well as influencing factors on reported outcomes.

STUDY DESIGN

We systematically searched MEDline, Psyndex, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Elsevier, TandF, Oxford Journal of Refugee Studies, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, and Canada's Journal on Refugees for existing literature regarding social-emotional and cognitive outcomes in children directly exposed to forced displacement due to political violence. Results were synthesized in the discussion and displayed using harvest plots.

RESULTS

Our search generated 9,791 articles of which 32 were selected for review and evaluation according to NICE criteria. Included studies provided results for 6,878 forcibly displaced children. Measured outcomes were diverse and included areas such as peer relations, prosocial behavior, family functioning, play, intelligence, learning performance, and language development. Repeated exposure to adverse experiences, separation from parents, parental distress, as well as duration and quality of resettlement in the host country were reported as influencing factors in the reviewed studies.

CONCLUSION

As protective factors like secure and stable living conditions help to promote children's development, we call for policies that enhance participation in the welcoming society for refugee families. Early integration with low-threshold access to health and educational facilities can help to mitigate the wide-ranging negative consequences of forced displacement on young children's development.

Potentially Traumatic Events, Socioemotional and Adaptive Functioning: Associations with Self-Regulatory Skills in a Community Sample of Primarily Black and Latinx 3-5-year-olds

Early childhood is a heightened risk period for exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and a critical period for the development of foundational self-regulatory competencies that have potential cascading effects on future socioemotional functioning. This cross-sectional study examined associations between PTE exposure and socioemotional and adaptive functioning, and self-regulatory skills, in a community-based sample of 280 primarily Black and Latinx 3-5-year-olds. Results supported direct relations between PTE exposure and socioemotional and adaptive functioning. Attentional regulation was associated with PTEs and internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, and adaptive behaviors. There was also a significant association of emotional regulation on the relationship between PTEs and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but not adaptive functioning. Findings have implications for early intervention and educational and public policy, including the importance of scaffolding the development of self-regulatory skills among preschoolers with high PTE exposure.

Prevalence, sociodemographic and household characteristics, and impacts of disrupted child care due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., April-July 2021

Child care closures have become pervasive in the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, parents and caregivers' jobs have been affected as they have needed to care for children at home. This study estimated the burden of disrupted child care due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic's impact on employment among U.S. households between April and July 2021. Data came from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, Phase 3.1. The study sample included 55,312 households with any children in a child care arrangement. We estimated the prevalence of disrupted child care overall and by select sociodemographic and household characteristics as well as employment impacts among households that experienced disrupted child care. Overall, 20.4% (95% confidence interval: 19.1, 21.7) of U.S. households experienced disrupted child care; percentages varied by state from a low of 7.7% in Utah to a high of 29.4% in the District of Columbia. The prevalence of disrupted child care was highest among non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic Black, low-income, and households that experienced material hardship. Adults were most likely to report supervising children while working, cutting work hours, and taking unpaid leave due to disruptions in child care. Continued support to the child care industry and to families with children may reduce the impacts of disrupted child care.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Resilience, and Emotional Problems in Young Chinese Children

Resilience plays an important role in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and children's health. Young children are often neglected in ACEs research and suffer from the negative consequences of ACEs. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between ACEs and emotional problems in young Chinese children and the moderating and mediating effect of resilience on this relationship. This study included young children at the beginning of their kindergarten year (n = 874, 42.80 ± 4.09 months) from Wuhu City, China, to examine the mediation and moderation effects of resilience on early-life ACEs and emotional problems. Our results show a positive direct effect of ACEs on emotional problems. Furthermore, a positive indirect effect of ACEs and emotional problems on resilience was found. A moderating effect of resilience was not observed in this study. Our findings (a) highlight the significance of paying more attention to early ACEs and revealing a better understanding of the effect of resilience on ACEs at an early age and (b) indicate that age-specific interventions should be provided to enhance young children's resilience when exposed to adversity.

Psychological well-being in midlife following early childhood intervention

The present study is the first to examine the relations between participation in a public early childhood intervention (the Child-Parent Center (CPC) program) and psychological well-being (or, positive functioning) into early mid-life. Data are drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), which has followed a cohort of 1,539 individuals who grew up in urban poverty for over four decades. Approximately two-thirds of the original study cohort participated in the CPC program in early childhood; the rest comprise a demographically matched comparison group. Participants’ psychological functioning at age 35-37 was assessed using the Ryff Scales of Psychological Wellbeing. Results support a positive relationship between CPC preschool participation and long-term psychological wellbeing. Moderated mediation (e.g., whether CPC effects on wellbeing differ across subgroups) and potential mechanisms across multiple social-ecological levels (according to the 5-Hypothesis Model of early intervention) are also empirically investigated. Future directions for child development research, early childhood intervention, and public policy are discussed.

Sad, Sadder, Saddest: Recognition of Sad and Happy Emotional Intensity, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Depressive Symptoms in Preschoolers

Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) have repeatedly been associated with depression. The ability to differentiate emotional intensity is a protective factor for psychopathology and in the context of life stressors, poor negative emotion differentiation (ED) is associated with depressive symptoms. However, little is known about whether the ability to recognize negative emotional intensity, a theorized developmental prerequisite of ED, influences the relationship between ACES and depressive symptoms in early childhood. The current study examined the interactive effects of ACES, the ability to recognize emotional intensity and depressive symptoms in 249 preschoolers enriched for depression. Findings demonstrated that when experiencing ACES, sad (not happy) emotion recognition was associated with elevated depressive symptoms. Specifically, when facing multiple ACEs, preschoolers with poor and moderate ability to recognize sad emotional intensity exhibited elevated depressive symptoms. Findings demonstrate that when experiencing elevated ACES, sad emotion recognition may be a protective factor for depression in early childhood.

Collaborative Edge Computing Advances in Children's Behavior Observation for Social Internet of Things Systems in Preschool Education

Teachers who observe and analyze children's conduct can learn more about children and the reasons for their behavior. Promoting the fusion of adult and preschool vision through discussion is a basic competency of preschool teachers.Social Internet of Things (SIoT) uses recent advances in collaborativeand social relationships among SIoT users to take advantage of the network's strengths while posing new challenges.With the help of the theory of development, behavioral cues, and individual circumstances, a thorough and holistic interpretation can be made of children's behavior.There is a brief introduction to the concepts of collaborative edge computing and data storage in addition to examples of various socially-minded solutions; for long last, a list of research obstacles is provided. When measured numerically, the ECBO has a positive impact on student accomplishment (97.9%), developmental progress (95.3%), interpersonal interaction (94.6%), parental participation (98.5%), and attention ratio (98%).

Early Adverse Childhood Experiences and Social Skills Among Youth in Fragile Families

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with negative health and behavioral outcomes across the life course, yet little is known about the association between early ACEs and social skills among youth. As social skills are often shaped by home environments, and social skills developed in adolescence often persist into adulthood, understanding the processes that drive inequalities in developmental outcomes, such as social skills, is imperative. The present study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW; n = 3245) and ordinary least squares regression analyses to explore the associations between early ACEs by age 5 (i.e., cumulative, timing, duration) and youth social skills (components include: emotional maturity, communication skills, intentionality, and social competence). The weighted sample consisted of urban-born youth (44% female) with a mean age of 15. Racial/ethnic breakdown of the sample is 37% non-Hispanic White, 25% non-Hispanic Black, 28% Hispanic, and 10% 'Other'. Overall, estimates suggest that nearly 79% of these youth experienced at least one ACE by age 5. Furthermore, the results indicated that as the number of early ACEs increased, deficits in social skills also increased. Moreover, the timing of exposure to early ACEs (i.e., high early, intermittent, chronic high) decreased social skills. The findings underscore the unique and robust links between early ACEs and youth social skills, underlining the importance of ACE exposure in social skill development.