PRESCHOOL FOLLOW-UP OF BLACK CHILDREN: FACTORS PREDICTING

COGNITIVE COMPETENCE AND ADJUSTMENT

We are following a cohort of 130 healthy, term Black children and their mothers from infancy to the preschool period. In the Infancy study (Spencer Major Research Grant # 199700061), mother-infant dyads were recruited in the newborn period and observed longitudinally at 3, 6, and 18 months child age in the laboratory and at 12 months in the infant's home. In the Preschool Follow-up, mother-child dyads are observed in an additional laboratory and home visit when children are 3 - 4 years old. The goal in both the Infancy and Preschool Studies is to identify specific early child, caregiver-familial, and socio-ecological (e.g., neighborhood) factors that predict children's positive cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes. In the Preschool Follow-up, we are evaluating the contribution of factors measured during infancy as well as identical factors measured at preschool age to children's cognitive competence and adjustment at preschool age. Both cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes are evaluated because both predict children's later academic functioning. Special emphasis is given to outcomes related to school readiness and literacy development. We ultimately plan to follow this cohort to primary school age.

Prior research has shown that Black children tend to perform less well in school than Caucasian children. However, this research is difficult to interpret because minority status is often confounded with low socio-economic status (SES) and associated risk factors (e.g., teen parenthood, preterm birth) that are known to compromise child outcomes. To overcome this confound, subjects met a set of lower-risk inclusion criteria which maximized the chances that infants would be healthy and normally developing. Our sample nevertheless varies in socio-demographic factors such as maternal education and family income. This will allow us to evaluate the influence of demographic, caregiver-familial, and socio-ecological factors on child outcomes without confounding effects of poverty and its co-morbidities.

The original study began in infancy because research has shown that the first two years of life have a significant impact on children's later outcomes, including their school functioning. In recognition of this, the US government has recently set funding priorities to implement new educational intervention programs during the first two years (e.g., "Early Head Start"). The goal of these programs is to support culturally relevant aspects of early child and caregiver functioning in the family context that are linked to positive child educational outcomes. However, little is known about the nature of these factors and how they may affect the early developmental processes of Black and other ethnic minority children. The rich data generated in the Infancy and the Preschool Follow-up Studies will allow us to assess culturally relevant factors such as variations in family structure and parental attitudes about the importance of racial socialization. These factors have been largely ignored in prior research with minority children.

Subjects who completed the Infancy study are invited to participate in the Preschool Follow-up when children are 3 _ - 4 years old. Two visits are included: a laboratory visit and a home visit. During the lab visit, children's cognitive, language, and socio-emotional skills are evaluated, and measures of caregiving, dyadic processes, and other social-environmental regulatory factors known to be foundational to children's later academic competence and adjustment are made. Within one to two months of the laboratory visit, a home visit takes place, where the HOME Inventory is administered, children's school readiness skills are assessed, and mother-child dyads are videotaped during joint book reading and play with small figures. In addition, mothers complete questionnaires documenting their attitudes about child rearing, racial socialization, neighborhood, and community. These assessments are identical or very similar to those used in the original Infancy study, permitting longitudinal analyses of continuity.

The longitudinal data generated in this unique study will allow us to identify specific child, caregiver-familial, and socio-ecological factors during the first four years of life that contribute to positive cognitive and socio-emotional preschool outcomes, including school readiness and pre-literacy development. These outcomes are important because they are linked with academic competence and adjustment in later childhood. Moreover, it is our hope that the detailed, culturally relevant information provided in this project will be highly useful to educators, policymakers, and other professionals as they design and implement preventative educational interventions for high-risk groups of Black and other children.