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Updated: Jun 10, 2025
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Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
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Can Early Intervention have a Sustained Effect on Human Capital?
1University College Dublin.
The Journal of Human Resources
|October 21, 2024
Summary
Early intervention programs can have lasting effects. The "Preparing for Life" program improved cognitive skills and school achievement by age nine, primarily through enhanced parental beliefs.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Education Policy
- Public Health
Background:
- Early intervention programs often show diminishing effects over time.
- Parenting programs aim to support child development from pregnancy through early childhood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the long-term impact of the "Preparing for Life" home visiting and parenting program.
- To assess effects on cognitive, socio-emotional, and academic outcomes in middle childhood.
Main Methods:
- Randomized controlled trial design.
- Longitudinal follow-up to age nine.
- Analysis of treatment effects and heterogeneity.
Main Results:
- Significant positive effects on cognitive skills (0.55SD) and school achievement (0.30-0.54SD) at age nine.
- No significant impact on socio-emotional skills.
- Effects primarily linked to improvements in early parental beliefs.
Conclusions:
- The "Preparing for Life" program demonstrates sustained benefits into middle childhood.
- Improvements in early parental beliefs are a key mechanism for long-term cognitive and academic gains.
- Early interventions can yield lasting positive outcomes if designed effectively.
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