Capturing Environmental Dimensions of Adversity and Resources in the Context of Poverty Across Infancy Through Early Adolescence: A Moderated Nonlinear Factor Model

Abstract

Income, education, and cumulative‐risk indices likely obscure meaningful heterogeneity in the mechanisms through which poverty impacts child outcomes. This study draws from contemporary theory to specify multiple dimensions of poverty‐related adversity and resources, with the aim of better capturing these nuances. Using data from the Family Life Project (N = 1,292), we leveraged moderated nonlinear factor analysis (Bauer, 2017) to establish group‐ and longitudinally invariant environmental measures from infancy to early adolescence. Results indicated three latent factors—material deprivation, psychosocial threat, and sociocognitive resources—were distinct from each other and from family income. Each was largely invariant across site, racial group, and development and showed convergent and discriminant relations with age‐twelve criterion measures. Implications for ensuring socioculturally valid measurements of poverty are discussed.

Exploring neural correlates of behavioral and academic resilience among children in poverty

“…In addition, it will be important to assess individual-level networks ( Seitzman et al, 2019 ), to see whether network boundaries differ meaningfully as a function of children’s experiences. Further, it would be interesting to determine which specific aspects of children's home environment underlie the effects reported here, given that experiences differ markedly even among children living in poverty ( DeJoseph et al, 2021 , Ellwood-Lowe et al, 2021 , Humphreys and Zeanah, 2015 , McLaughlin et al, 2014 , Rakesh et al, 2021 , Rakesh et al, 2021 ). While the differential patterns of brain activity we see here may reflect years of childhood experiences, other research has shown that rs-fMRI changes as a function of even brief experiences, even in adulthood ( Guerra-Carrillo et al, 2014 ).…”

Not all babies are in the same boat: Exploring the effects of socioeconomic status, parental attitudes, and activities during the 2020 COVID‐19 pandemic on early Executive Functions

“…Further, those who were retained may be considered to have at least some interest in child development (because they were willing to take part in this study) and may, therefore, be more likely to engage in enriching activities with their child, which may have distorted our results. We also note that broad indicators such as income and parental education mask considerable heterogeneity, and may not have the same meaning across nations or racial-ethnic groups (DeJoseph et al, 2021).…”

Exploring neural correlates of behavioral and academic resilience among children in poverty

“…In addition, it will be important to assess individual-level networks (Seitzman et al, 2019), to see whether network boundaries differ meaningfully as a function of children's experiences. Further, it would be interesting to determine which specific aspects of children's home environment underlie the effects reported here, given that experiences differ markedly even among children living in poverty (DeJoseph et al, 2021;Ellwood-Lowe et al, 2021;Humphreys & Zeanah, 2015;McLaughlin et al, 2014;Rakesh, Seguin, et al, 2021;. While the differential patterns of brain activity we see here may reflect years of childhood experiences, other research has shown that rs-fMRI changes as a function of even brief experiences, even in adulthood (Guerra-Carrillo et al, 2014).…”