Low income or poverty is related to lower effortful control, which is important in the development of adaptive functioning and adjustment problems. Effortful control refers to attentional and inhibitory control mechanisms and shows a sharp developmental increase in the preschool years. However, rates and patterns of growth have not been examined extensively. Nor is there a good understanding about how the development of effortful control relates to the development of children's adjustment. Further, little is known about how sociodemographic risk might impact the development of effortful control. Low income or poverty might divert the development of effortful control during the key period of 3- to 6-years when it is developing dramatically. Low income might result in numerous family disruptions, including more negative events, residential instability, maternal depression, family conflict and disorganization. In turn, these might lead to greater stress reactivity and parenting problems that might mediate the effects of low income. We will investigate a process model of the effects of low income on effortful control in a community sample of 347 typically developing 3-year-olds. The sample will oversample risk with 1/3 families in poverty, 1/3 lower-income families, and 1/3 middle- to upper-income families. Using a growth design, we test whether the effects of low income on effortful control are mediated by family disruptions, stress reactivity and parenting. In turn, effortful control is expected to predict developing social competence and adjustment problems. This study is innovative in its use of a process model of the effects of low income, developmental design, and inclusion of behavioral, physiological, and neuropsychological measures. Children will be assessed 4 times. Assessments will include neuropsychological assessment of effortful control, physiological assessment of stress reactivity, observations of parenting, parents'report of family disruptions, and parents'and teachers'report of child adjustment. Latent growth curve analyses will be used to examine: 1) growth trajectories of effortful control;2) the role of low income in children's developing effortful control;3) whether family disruptions, stress reactivity, and parenting account for the effects of low income on effortful control;4) the relation between growth in effortful control and changes in adjustment;and 5) effortful control as a predictor of children's social competence and adjustment problems above the effects of low income and family disruptions. This project can inform interventions aimed at promoting positive adjustment in children in low-income contexts.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01HD054465-04S2
Application #
8110754
Study Section
Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section (PDRP)
Program Officer
Maholmes, Valerie
Project Start
2010-09-01
Project End
2013-08-31
Budget Start
2010-09-01
Budget End
2013-08-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$223,228
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
605799469
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Gartstein, Maria A; Seamon, Erich; Thompson, Stephanie F et al. (2018) Parenting matters: Moderation of biological and community risk for obesity. J Appl Dev Psychol 56:21-34
Thompson, Stephanie F; Zalewski, Maureen; Kiff, Cara J et al. (2018) A state-trait model of cortisol in early childhood: Contextual and parental predictors of stable and time-varying effects. Horm Behav 98:198-209
Ruberry, Erika J; Klein, Melanie R; Kiff, Cara J et al. (2018) Parenting as a moderator of the effects of cumulative risk on children's social-emotional adjustment and academic readiness. Infant Child Dev 27:
Ruberry, Erika J; Lengua, Liliana J; Crocker, Leanna Harris et al. (2017) Income, neural executive processes, and preschool children's executive control. Dev Psychopathol 29:143-154
Moran, Lyndsey; Lengua, Liliana J; Zalewski, Maureen et al. (2017) Variable- and Person-Centered Approaches to Examining Temperament Vulnerability and Resilience to the Effects of Contextual Risk. J Res Pers 67:61-74
Klein, Melanie R; Lengua, Liliana J; Thompson, Stephanie F et al. (2016) Bidirectional Relations Between Temperament and Parenting Predicting Preschool-Age Children's Adjustment. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol :1-14
Zalewski, Maureen; Lengua, Liliana J; Thompson, Stephanie F et al. (2016) Income, cumulative risk, and longitudinal profiles of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in preschool-age children. Dev Psychopathol 28:341-53
Lengua, Liliana J; Moran, Lyndsey; Zalewski, Maureen et al. (2015) Relations of growth in effortful control to family income, cumulative risk, and adjustment in preschool-age children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 43:705-20
Tandon, Pooja; Thompson, Stephanie; Moran, Lyndsey et al. (2015) Body Mass Index Mediates the Effects of Low Income on Preschool Children's Executive Control, with Implications for Behavior and Academics. Child Obes 11:569-76
Moran, Lyndsey R; Lengua, Liliana J; Zalewski, Maureen (2013) The Interaction between Negative Emotionality and Effortful Control in Early Social-emotional Development. Soc Dev 22:340-362

Showing the most recent 10 out of 14 publications