Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Infancy and Academic and Self-Regulation Outcomes

Evidence for Protective Effects of Peer Play in the Early Years: Better Peer Play Ability at Age 3 Years Predicts Lower Risks of Externalising and Internalising Problems at Age 7 Years in a Longitudinal Cohort Analysis

Peer play ability may be a protective factor against childhood mental health difficulties but there is lack of empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. We conducted longitudinal structural equation modelling study over a population cohort (N = 1676) to examine the effect of age 3 peer play ability on children's age 7 mental health outcomes (measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire subscales). We modelled effects for the entire population and two sub-groups at high-risk for mental health problems based on age 3 temperament. Controlling for demographic variables, temperament, maternal distress, play with parents and number of siblings, better peer play ability at age 3 years predicted lower risk of problems on all 4 SDQ subscales at age 7 years for the general population. For the low-persistence subgroup, better peer play ability at age 3 predicted lower risk of age 7 hyperactivity, emotional and peer problems, whereas better peer play ability at age 3 predicted only lower risk of age 7 hyperactivity for the high-reactivity group. Taken together our results provide evidence that supports the hypothesis that early peer play ability may be a protective factor against later mental health difficulties. We conclude that further research aimed at establishing causation is worth pursuing.

Promoting Temporal Investigations of Development in Context: a Systematic Review of Longitudinal Research Linking Childhood Circumstances and Learning-related Outcomes

Children’s learning and cognitive development have a distinct receptivity to the circumstances of childhood. However, not all children have equal opportunities and learning inequities continue to be influenced by the social and economic circumstances of childhood. Examining factors within the environments that children are growing up in, and the associations of these factors with learning, can help to identify leverage points for change, enabling more children to be supported to reach their potential. Specifically, turning attention to the timing and duration of exposure to specific social and economic factors across childhood can provide essential details to determine who is most susceptible to contextual effects and at what ages. This paper presents a systematic review of 75 longitudinal studies of families and children carried out between 2000 and 2021. These studies tracked social and economic circumstances between pregnancy and early adolescence in relation to educational and cognitive outcomes across the lifespan. The results of the included studies were examined and grouped into themes using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings largely suggest that the degree to which educational and cognitive outcomes are affected by specific social and economic circumstances depends on the duration, timing, and mobility across childhood. In particular, findings relating to the developmental timing of exposure, as well as persistent exposure, revealed distinct evidence of the effects of temporality. These findings provide detail into how much and in what instances temporality should be considered—results which can be used to inform avenues for reducing learning disparities.

Designing Maker initiatives for educational inclusion

The "Maker" movement is a cultural as well as educational phenomenon that has the potential to offer significant opportunities to students in conditions of social, economic and cultural disadvantage. The research reported in this paper, however, suggests that the simple provision of "Maker Spaces" for such activity is simplistic and not sufficient to realise this potential. The research involved a mixed methods study of a cohort of year 7 students (n = 26) in an Australian school located in a socio-economically disadvantaged outer-metropolitan region. The cohort undertook a range of Maker activities at a new "creativity centre" built at the school. Results indicate that the activities had positive impact on student attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) overall, but that the impact was highly specific across attitudinal constructs. A strong ranging effect was also evident, suggesting that the impact of the experience was highly dependent on students' initial attitudes. Reflecting on these results, the paper also offers a reference framework that may help keep equity in mind when designing different kinds of Maker experience.

Hair cortisol in mother-child dyads: examining the roles of maternal parenting and stress in the context of early childhood adversity

Physiological stress is thought to be one way that early adversity may impact children's health. How this occurs may be related to parental factors such as mothers' own stress and parenting behaviour. Hair cortisol offers a novel method for examining long-term physiological stress in mother-child dyads. The current study used hair cortisol to examine the role that maternal physiological stress and parenting behaviours play in explaining any effects of adversity on young children's physiological stress. This cross-sectional study comprised 603 mother-child dyads at child age 2 years, recruited during pregnancy for their experience of adversity through an Australian nurse home visiting trial. Hair cortisol data were available for 438 participating mothers (73%) and 319 (53%) children. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to define composite exposures of economic (e.g. unemployment, financial hardship) and psychosocial (e.g. poor mental health, family violence) adversity, and positive maternal parenting behaviour (e.g. warm, responsive). Structural equation modelling examined maternal mediating pathways through which adversity was associated with children's physiological stress. Results of the structural model showed that higher maternal and child physiological stress (hair cortisol) were positively associated with one another. Parenting behaviour was not associated with children's physiological stress. There was no evidence of any mediating pathways by which economic or psychosocial adversity were associated with children's physiological stress. The independent association identified between maternal and child hair cortisol suggests that young children's physiological stress may not be determined by exogenous environmental exposures; endogenous genetic factors may play a greater role.