Wade Mark, Browne Dillon T, Plamondon Andre, Daniel Ella, Jenkins Jennifer M
Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Canada.
Dev Sci. 2016 Mar;19(2):179-94. doi: 10.1111/desc.12302. Epub 2015 Apr 6.
The current longitudinal study examined the role of cumulative social risk on children's theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning (EF) across early development. Further, we also tested a cascade model of development in which children's social cognition at 18 months was hypothesized to predict ToM and EF at age 4.5 through intermediary language skills at age 3. We then examined whether this developmental mechanism varied as a function of social risk status. Participants were 501 children recruited when they were newborns, at which point eight psychosocial risk factors were assessed and combined into a metric of cumulative social disadvantage. Families were followed up at 18 months, at which point four social-cognitive skills were assessed using developmentally sensitive tasks: joint attention, empathy, cooperation, and self-recognition. Language was measured at age 3 using a standardized measure of receptive vocabulary. At age 3 and 4.5, EF and ToM were measured using previously validated tasks. Results showed that there were notable cumulative risk disparities in overall neurocognitive skill development, and these effects became more differentiated over time. Support was also found for a developmental mechanism wherein the effect of social cognition at 18 months on ToM and EF in the preschool period operated specifically through children's receptive language ability at age 3. This pathway functioned similarly for children with both low- and high-risk backgrounds. These results extend previous findings by documenting the role of cumulative social disadvantage on children's neurocognition and the pathways that link key neurocognitive abilities across early development.
当前的纵向研究考察了累积社会风险在儿童早期发展过程中对心理理论（ToM）和执行功能（EF）的作用。此外，我们还测试了一种发展级联模型，其中假设儿童18个月时的社会认知通过3岁时的中介语言技能来预测4.5岁时的心理理论和执行功能。然后，我们考察了这种发展机制是否因社会风险状况而异。研究参与者为501名新生儿，在新生儿阶段评估了八个心理社会风险因素，并将其综合为一个累积社会劣势指标。在儿童18个月时对家庭进行随访，此时使用对发展敏感的任务评估四种社会认知技能：联合注意、共情、合作和自我识别。在3岁时使用标准化的接受性词汇量测量方法测量语言能力。在3岁和4.5岁时，使用先前验证过的任务测量执行功能和心理理论。结果表明，在整体神经认知技能发展方面存在显著的累积风险差异，并且这些影响随着时间的推移变得更加明显。研究还发现了一种发展机制的证据，即18个月时的社会认知对学龄前儿童心理理论和执行功能的影响具体通过3岁儿童的接受性语言能力起作用。这条路径在低风险和高风险背景的儿童中发挥作用的方式类似。这些结果通过记录累积社会劣势对儿童神经认知的作用以及在早期发展过程中连接关键神经认知能力的路径，扩展了先前的研究发现。
