Sosu Edward M, Schmidt Peter
School of Education, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2022 Mar 14;13:758082. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.758082. eCollection 2022.
Associations between family income and child developmental outcomes are well documented. However, family income is not static but changes over time. Although this volatility represents income shocks that are likely to affect children's lives, very few studies have so far examined its effect on early cognitive development. This study investigated associations between family income, volatility, and changes in cognitive outcomes in early childhood and examined whether these associations are dependent on a family's overall income position. Data for the study spanned five waves of the Growing Up in Scotland longitudinal survey ( = 3,621). Findings indicate that income volatility was more prevalent among disadvantaged sociodemographic groups. In addition to average income, short-term volatility was associated with changes in child cognitive outcomes from ages 3 to 5. While upward volatility was associated with gains in expressive vocabulary, downward and fluctuating volatility were associated with declines in child problem-solving abilities. The association between volatility and changes in cognitive outcomes was similar for both children living in poverty and those from medium-high-income households. Our results suggest that policies aiming to cushion all families from negative income shocks, boost family income to ensure stability, and take low-income families out of poverty will have a significant impact on children's cognitive development. Additionally, a more nuanced conceptualization of income is needed to understand its multidimensional impact on developmental outcomes.
家庭收入与儿童发展成果之间的关联已有充分记录。然而，家庭收入并非一成不变，而是随时间变化。尽管这种波动代表着可能影响儿童生活的收入冲击，但迄今为止，很少有研究考察其对早期认知发展的影响。本研究调查了家庭收入、波动性与幼儿认知成果变化之间的关联，并检验了这些关联是否取决于家庭的总体收入状况。该研究的数据涵盖了苏格兰成长纵向调查的五个阶段（n = 3621）。研究结果表明，收入波动在社会人口统计学上处于劣势的群体中更为普遍。除了平均收入外，短期波动与儿童3至5岁时认知成果的变化有关。虽然收入向上波动与表达性词汇的增加有关，但收入向下波动和波动不定则与儿童解决问题能力的下降有关。生活在贫困中的儿童和中等高收入家庭的儿童在波动与认知成果变化之间的关联相似。我们的研究结果表明，旨在缓冲所有家庭免受负面收入冲击、提高家庭收入以确保稳定并使低收入家庭摆脱贫困的政策，将对儿童的认知发展产生重大影响。此外，需要对收入进行更细致入微的概念化理解，以认识其对发展成果的多维度影响。
