The Role of Social Adversity on Emotional Regulation Trajectories, School Adjustment, and BMI During Early Childhood

Background: Emotional regulation is one of the cornerstones for wellness and well-being across the lifespan. Emotional regulation is the ability to manage attention, affect, and behavior, and it directly affects child health and development, setting the stage for their ability to manage health behaviors and meet their full social and economic potentials. Emotional dysregulation is pervasive among pre-school age children with estimates as high as 26%, and particularly prominent among children who experience social adversity, defined as socioeconomic exposure of hardship. Social adversity has been identified as a strong factor associated with emotional dysregulation, and mechanisms that can mitigate this negative association are largely unknown. Furthermore, emotional dysregulation is related to key health and wellbeing outcomes such as academic performance and Body Mass Index (BMI).Method: This three-paper dissertation uses secondary data from the Durham Child Health and Development Study to explore the relationships between social adversity, emotional dysregulation, academic adjustment, and BMI. Chapter II explores the role of social adversity predicting emotional regulation trajectories during infancy and early childhood. Chapter III explores emotional regulation during early childhood as a predictor of key school adjustment outcomes (social skills, academic performance, and standardized academic achievement). Chapter IV explores emotional regulation as a predictor of Body Mass Index across early childhood and explores parenting sensitivity as a moderator and a potential target for future intervention.Results: Social adversity was associated with emotional regulation behaviors during infancy and early childhood, but only emotional regulation trajectories during infancy. Emotional regulation was associated with school adjustment outcomes. Emotional regulation was not associated with BMI, however, parenting sensitivity did act as a moderator.Conclusion: Our findings support embedding emotional regulation into the development of parenting, early care, and education-based interventions. This will promote emotional regulation skills and subsequent school adjustment outcomes, which can help children meet their full social and economic potential across the lifespan.