Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Dev Sci. 2023 May;26(3):e13337. doi: 10.1111/desc.13337. Epub 2022 Nov 11.
Individual differences in cognitive abilities emerge early during development, and children with poorer cognition are at increased risk for adverse outcomes as they enter adolescence. Caregiving plays an important role in supporting cognitive development, yet it remains unclear how specific types of caregiving behaviors may shape cognition, highlighting the need for large-scale studies. In the present study, we characterized replicable yet specific associations between caregiving behaviors and cognition in two large sub-samples of children ages 9-10 years old from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD). Across both discovery and replication sub-samples, we found that child reports of caregiver monitoring (supervision or regular knowledge of the child's whereabouts) were positively associated with general cognition abilities, after covarying for age, sex, household income, neighborhood deprivation, and parental education. This association was specific to the type of caregiving behavior (caregiver monitoring, but not caregiver warmth), and was most strongly associated with a broad domain of general cognition (but not executive function or learning/memory). Additionally, we found that caregiver monitoring partially mediated the association between household income and cognition, furthering our understanding of how socioeconomic disparities may contribute to disadvantages in cognitive development. Together, these findings underscore the influence of differences in caregiving behavior in shaping youth cognition. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Caregiver monitoring, but not caregiver warmth, is associated with cognitive performance in youth Caregiver monitoring partially mediates the association between household income and cognition Results replicated across two large matched samples from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD).
个体认知能力的差异在发育早期就显现出来,而认知能力较差的儿童在进入青春期后,出现不良后果的风险更高。照护在支持认知发展方面起着重要作用,但目前尚不清楚特定类型的照护行为如何塑造认知,这突显了进行大规模研究的必要性。在本研究中,我们在来自青少年大脑认知发展研究(ABCD)的两个 9-10 岁大的儿童子样本中,描述了照护行为与认知之间可重复但特定的关联。在发现和复制样本中,我们发现,在考虑了年龄、性别、家庭收入、邻里贫困程度和父母教育程度等因素后,儿童对照顾者监督(监管或定期了解孩子的行踪)的报告与一般认知能力呈正相关。这种关联是特定于照护行为类型的(照顾者监督,而不是照顾者温暖),并且与广泛的一般认知领域(而不是执行功能或学习/记忆)最密切相关。此外,我们发现照顾者监督部分中介了家庭收入与认知之间的关联,进一步了解了社会经济差距如何导致认知发展的劣势。总之,这些发现强调了照护行为差异在塑造青少年认知方面的影响。研究亮点:照顾者监督,而不是照顾者温暖,与年轻人的认知表现相关照顾者监督部分中介了家庭收入与认知之间的关联结果在来自青少年大脑认知发展研究(ABCD)的两个大型匹配样本中得到了复制。