Early-life threat and deprivation: Are children similarly affected by exposure to each?
Extensive evidence documents negative consequences of adversity for children's development. Here, we extend such work by looking beyond average effects to consider variation in susceptibility to both threat and deprivation in terms of cognitive and social-emotional development, using an influence-statistic methodology. Data come from the ongoing Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 14,541, 49.1% female, age range: 6 month to 12 year, race and ethnicity: 97.8% white, 0.4% black, and 0.6% other). With respect to anticipated associations of threat with problem behavior and of deprivation with cognition, results of this pre-registered research revealed that a roughly equal proportion of children proved to be susceptible in a domain-general manner (similarly influenced) and a domain-specific one (dissimilarly influenced). Implications for intervention are considered.
Authors
- Kristina Sayler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8042-8941)
- Jay Belsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2191-2503)
- Katie A. McLaughlin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1362-2410)
Institutions
- Harvard University Press (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Child Development
- Published
- 2024-10-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14188
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Early Childhood Education and Development
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.29
Funders
- University of Bristol
- Medical Research Council