Associations among stress and language and socioemotional development in a low-income sample

Abstract

Stress has been linked with children’s socioemotional problems and lower language scores, particularly among children raised in socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances. Much of the work examining the relations among stress, language, and socioemotional functioning have relied on assessments of a single dimension of maternal stress. However, stress can stem from different sources, and people may appraise stressors differently. Taking a dimensional approach, this manuscript characterizes stress in multiple ways: as an overall composite; across the constructs of psychological appraisal vs. environmental stressors; and the independent contributions of a variety assessments. Data are from 548 mother–infant dyads (M = 13.14 months, SD = 2.11) who served as the control group for a poverty reduction clinical trial. Mothers completed questionnaires regarding the different types of stresses they may have experienced, as well as their children’s language and socioemotional development. Results indicate that, collectively, higher maternal report of stress is associated with lower reports of children’s socioemotional and language development. In addition, maternal psychological appraisals of stress were associated with both socioemotional and language development, whereas reports of environmental stressors were only associated with socioemotional development. Together, these findings suggest that maternal reports of stress are associated with lower maternal report of child development among low-income children.

The effect of the COVID‐19 pandemic on infant development and maternal mental health in the first 2 years of life

“…Furthermore, an abundance of research has found that maternal depression, anxiety, and perceived stress are associated with poorer infant emotion regulation (D'Souza, Waldie, et al., 2019 ; Feldman et al., 2009 ; Troller‐Renfree et al., 2022 ). However, the present sample of mothers did not report greater mental health symptoms due to the duration of pandemic exposure in the postpartum year.…”

“…Indeed, increased perceived stress has been linked with the provision of less sensitive parent‐child interaction (Ursache et al., 2017 ), though evidence for links between perceived stress and the measures of the home language environment has been mixed (Hart et al., 2022 ; Pierce et al., 2021 ). Nonetheless, greater parenting stress (Justice et al., 2019 ; Magill‐Evans & Harrison, 2001 ), perceived stress (Pierce et al., 2021 ), and psychological appraisals of stress (Troller‐Renfree et al., 2022 ) have each been associated with lower scores on measures of early language development. Some other studies, however, have found no relation between perceived stress and language development (Lehr et al., 2016 ; Lin et al., 2017 ).…”

“…It is well‐documented that exposure to early stress is associated with poorer socioemotional development. Indeed, several studies have found that increased postnatal perceived stress correlates with greater socioemotional problems at 12 months (Olafsen et al., 2008 ; Pesonen et al., 2008 ; Troller‐Renfree et al., 2022 ). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as the death of a family member, are one example of a stress exposure associated with later behavior problems (Clarkson Freeman, 2014 ).…”

Reflections on the past two decades of Mind, Brain, and Education

“…Perhaps the most revolutionizing contribution from MBE to the education sector has been an evidence‐based understanding of the conditions required to support learning. Organizations like Turnaround for Children (https://turnaroundusa.org) convey the clear science that all children are born with brains that are ready to learn, that learning depends on conditions in the environment, and that we must design care and educational settings that enable children to thrive (Jensen et al, 2021; Troller‐Renfree et al, 2022; Troller‐Renfree et al, 2023). A sense of belonging, safe environment, supportive relationships, and a holistic approach to building student skills, mindsets, and autonomy are fundamental to learning (Caballero et al, 2019).…”

Relations among Socioeconomic Status, Perceived Stress, and the Home Language Environment

“…Less explored, however, is the extent to which stress influences the frequency with which caregivers speak in the home and engage in conversational turns with their children. Some studies have found that higher caregiver stress is associated with lower performance on traditional measures of child language development (D'Souza, Crawford, Buckley, Underwood, Peterson, Bird, Morton & Waldie, 2019;Troller-Renfree, Hart, Sperber, Fox & Noble, 2022), though evidence is mixed (Lehr, Wecksell, Nahum, Neuhaus, Teel, Linares & Diaz, 2016;Lin, Xu, Huang, Jia, Zhang, Yan & Zhang, 2017). It is thus plausible that caregiver stress might influence the home language environment in ways that are important for child language development.…”