Social inequalities in early childhood competences, and the relative role of social and emotional versus cognitive skills in predicting adult outcomes

Abstract

This study draws on the nationally representative British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70) to examine (1) the association between social background and early socio-emotional and cognitive competences at age 5 and (2) the relative and independent contributions of early socio-emotional and cognitive competences to educational and socio-economic attainment in adulthood. A multidimensional (multiple exposure, multiple outcome) approach is adopted in conceptualising social background, childhood competences and adult outcomes by age 42. Indicators of social background include parental education, social class, employment status, family income, as well as home ownership, enabling us to test which aspects of socio-economic risk uniquely influence the development of early competences. Indicators of childhood competences include directly assessed cognitive competences (i.e. verbal and visual motor skills), while measures of socio-emotional competences include hyperactivity, good conduct, emotional health and social skills, reported by the child's mother at age 5. Adult outcomes include highest qualifications, social class and household income by age 42. The findings suggest that multiple indicators of social background are associated with both socio-emotional and cognitive competences, although the associations with socio-emotional competences are less strong than those with cognitive competences. We find significant long-term predictive effects of early cognitive skills on adult outcomes, but also independent effects of socioemotional competences, in particular self-regulation, over and above the role of family background. The study supports calls for early interventions aiming to reduce family socio-economic risk exposure and supporting the development of cognitive skills and self-regulation (i.e. reducing hyperactivity and conduct problems).

Explaining gaps by parental education in children’s early language and social outcomes at age 3–4 years: evidence from harmonised data from three countries

“…As parental education has been suggested to be the most significant SES-indicator relevant to early child development, we focus on the mechanisms underlying the association between parental education and early child development across developmental domains and countries. In particular, we expect to find parental education-related gaps in both early language and social skills (e.g., Bradbury et al, 2015;Schoon et al, 2021). Yet, in line with previous studies, we expect to find gaps in language outcomes to be larger than those for different facets of social skills even when being tested within the same samples in a harmonised framework.…”

“…Early language development is associated with subsequent cognitive skills as well as with academic and labor market success (e.g., Schoon et al, 2021), and is related to the development of socio-emotional skills (e.g., Rose et al, 2018). Children's poor socio-emotional skills are not only predictive of poorer health and behavioural outcomes in adulthood (e.g., Althoff et al, 2010), but also of comparatively lower academic achievement (e.g., Becherer et al, 2021).…”

“…Further, adults from different social strata differ in their use of language, joint activities such as book reading as well as in their knowledge about child development and their sensitive and cognitive-verbally stimulating behaviour when interacting with their children (e.g., Attig & Weinert, 2020;Hoff, 2003). SES is also related to children's socio-emotional development (e.g., Huang et al, 2022a;Schoon et al, 2021), although the strength of such relations may vary widely between cultures (Bradbury et al, 2015). Previous studies on SES-related disparities in early child development mainly explore the relations between SES and specific child outcomes, e.g., either in the language or in the socio-emotional domain, and only within one country (e.g., Becker, 2011;Wirth et al, 2020).…”

Social Inequalities in Young People's Mental Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Do Psychosocial Resource Factors Matter?

“…Depending on discipline, the focus had been on parental education, income poverty or social class, or a combination of these factors. Despite being positively correlated, past research has shown that parental education, social class, and poverty relate to different forms of parental resources, such as informational, socio-cultural and economic resources—each of which has independent and distinct effects on individual lives ( 34 , 35 ). For example, better educated parents might help their children to develop skills and strategies to deal with problems effectively and thus raise their perceptions of control, and sense of self-efficacy ( 36 ); and a family's financial situation can impact on young people's optimism and outlook to the future ( 37 ) because their lives are more predictable and stable.…”

The long-term benefits of adolescent school engagement for adult educational and employment outcomes.

“…The development of engagement occurs in a broader sociocultural context, wherein people’s school engagement and later employment and educational outcomes are associated with gender, childhood cognitive ability, parental education, and parental occupational status (Heckhausen et al, 2013; Gutman & Schoon, 2018; Schoon et al, 2021). Here, social contexts create a system of opportunities for people to develop their attitudes and behaviors in a dynamic interplay with environmental resources and demands (Salmela-Aro & Upadyaya, 2014).…”