Early learning ecologies and trajectories of behavioral health through the pandemic: A latent class growth analysis

Using seven waves of longitudinal data collected from 1,459 3- to 11-year-old children in Massachusetts from 2018 to 2024 (50% female, 78% White, 18% Hispanic, 11% Black, 12% Other race), this study identified joint trajectories of internalizing, externalizing, and adaptive behaviors before, during, and since the COVID-19 pandemic and examined associations between children's early ecological contexts and their developmental trajectories. Parallel-process latent class growth analyses revealed four joint trajectories of behavioral health: High, Stable (44%), Below Average, Variable (40%), Low, Variable (8%), and Low Adaptive, Stable (7%). Across classes, children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors slightly improved post-pandemic onset but adaptive behaviors declined. Parental stress, household chaos, and preschool teacher-child relationship conflict were associated with trajectories characterized by pandemic-era declines in adaptive behaviors.