The proposed study, in response to NIH Program Announcement PA-05-093, Secondary Data Analysis Based on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD), seeks to conduct secondary data analysis of the NICHD SECCYD to replicate and extend findings that describe pathways through which chronic or transitory exposure to multiple risk factors predict academic outcomes among African American youth from early childhood to early adolescence. Although children exposed to multiple social risk factors often enter school with less developed academic skills and more socio-emotional difficulties and fall further behind their more advantaged classmates during their school years, many children from risky contexts succeed in school. African-American children, unfortunately, are more likely to experience such adversity than their white peers, and this appears to contribute to the widening achievement gap between African American and their white peers during middle childhood and adolescence. Understanding the child, family, and school factors during early and middle childhood that affect the school success and adjustment of African American children is critical to promoting their academic achievement, and thereby, opportunities as adults. The specific objectives of this study are to: a) describe the extent to which the severity, timing, and duration of exposure to multiple social risk factors relate to African American children's academic achievement and school adjustment; b) determine the extent to which exposure to multiple risks relates to youth's academic achievement and adjustment through its association with child characteristics (language, ethnic identity, peer relations), family characteristics (maternal depression, responsive and stimulating parenting), and school characteristics (teacher/student relationship); and c) test whether the selected child, family, and school characteristics serve as protective factors in the presence of adversity for African American youth. Study participants are the 176 African American children and their families in the SECCYD whose language, early literacy skills, and family and school environments have been prospectively documented since infancy through sixth grade. Growth curve analyses will relate academic outcomes to multiple risk indices that reflect extent, timing, and duration of exposure to adversity. Analyses will test whether hypothesized factors serve as mediating or protective factors in relating exposure to multiple risk factors to school competence. Study findings should have important implications for the sociocultural factors that affect the school success of African American adolescents and guide intervention efforts directed at reducing risk and promoting success in school competence.
