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Development in reading and math in children from different SES backgrounds: the moderating role of child temperament

Zhe Wang1, Brooke Soden2, Kirby Deater-Deckard3

  • 1Center for Gerontology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA.

Developmental Science
|December 23, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Children's temperament, including low negative affect and high effortful control, can buffer socioeconomic risks (SES risks) against academic development. These traits highlight the interplay of biological and social factors in child development.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Development
  • Behavioral Genetics

Background:

  • Socioeconomic risks (SES risks) are established predictors of children's academic outcomes.
  • The universal applicability and differential impact of SES risks on academic development across diverse child characteristics remain underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate children's temperament as a potential moderator of the relationship between SES risks and academic development.
  • To examine how specific temperamental traits influence the association between socioeconomic factors and children's learning trajectories.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized latent growth modeling (LGM) on two longitudinal datasets comprising 2236 children.
  • Analyzed the interactive effects of family SES risks and children's temperament on reading and math development from middle childhood to early adolescence.

Main Results:

  • Low negative affect, high effortful control, and low surgency were found to mitigate the adverse effects of SES risks on both reading and math development.
  • Temperamental characteristics significantly moderated the association between SES risks and academic trajectories.

Conclusions:

  • The impact of SES risks on academic development is not uniform and can be buffered by specific child temperamental traits.
  • Individual differences in academic development are shaped by the complex interplay between biological factors (temperament) and social factors (SES risks).

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