Caregiver monitoring, but not caregiver warmth, is associated with general cognition in two large sub‐samples of youth

Abstract

Individual differences in cognitive abilities emerge early during development, and children with poorer cognition are at increased risk for adverse outcomes as they enter adolescence. Caregiving plays an important role in supporting cognitive development, yet it remains unclear how specific types of caregiving behaviors may shape cognition, highlighting the need for large-scale studies. In the present study, we characterized replicable yet specific associations between caregiving behaviors and cognition in two large sub-samples of children ages 9-10 years old from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study ® (ABCD). Across both discovery and replication sub-samples, we found that child reports of caregiver monitoring (supervision or regular knowledge of the child's whereabouts) were positively associated with general cognition abilities, after covarying for age, sex, household income, neighborhood deprivation, and parental education. This association was specific to the type of caregiving behavior (caregiver monitoring, but not caregiver warmth), and was most strongly associated with a broad domain of general cognition (but not executive function or learning/memory). Additionally, we found that caregiver monitoring partially mediated the association between household income and cognition, furthering our understanding Ran Barzilay and Theodore D. Satterthwaite senior authors who contributed equally

Cognitive resilience and vulnerability to socioeconomic disadvantage: Individual, family, school, and neighborhood predictors

“…This finding adds to the long-established protective effect of monitoring on mental health and academic resilience and the prevention of risk-taking behaviors, especially for youth living in unsafe or under-resourced neighborhoods (Ozer et al, 2017). A recent paper with participants in the ABCD study identified that a greater degree of caregiver monitoring, but not warmth, mediated the association between youths' household income and general cognitive ability scores (Keller et al, 2023). Given that CR youth had significantly more neighborhood disadvantage than CV youth, a greater level of caregiver monitoring may reflect differences in neighborhood violence and crime that necessitate a greater level of supervision to lessen the risk of harm (Ozer et al, 2017).…”