McDorman S Alexa, Gilmer Morgan A, Terry Victoria A, Taylor-Robinette Ellie K, Gabrieli John D, Romeo Rachel R
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2025 Feb;250:106123. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106123. Epub 2024 Nov 16.
Low socioeconomic status (SES) and high household chaos are adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that increase the risk of worse executive functioning (EF) and socioemotional (SE) development. EF and SE skills are foundational for lifelong success, but less is known about how positive childhood experiences (PCEs) such as parenting relationships may buffer the impact of ACEs on these important skills. This study examined how SES and household chaos related to EF and SE skills within the context of varying parenting relationships among a sample of 83 socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse 4- to 7-year-old children in the urban United States. SES was associated with children's lab-based EF, but not survey-based EF or SE skills. Household chaos was related to children's SE skills, with evidence of full mediation through parenting relationships, but was not related to children's EF. Although we found evidence of moderation, none of the interactions was in the expected direction. Thus, this study failed to find evidence of parenting relationships as a PCE protective against risk from SES and household chaos for children's EF and SE skills. However, parenting relationships were more strongly related to children's survey EF and SE skills than either ACE, indicating the importance of fostering parenting relationships for children's SE development across risk levels. Results increase our understanding of how positive and adverse childhood experiences relate to child development in a diverse sample and have implications for measurement approaches and family policy.
社会经济地位低下（SES）和家庭高度混乱是不良童年经历（ACEs），会增加执行功能（EF）和社会情感（SE）发展较差的风险。EF和SE技能是终身成功的基础，但对于诸如亲子关系等积极童年经历（PCEs）如何缓冲ACEs对这些重要技能的影响，我们了解得较少。本研究考察了在美国城市中83名社会经济、种族/民族多样化的4至7岁儿童样本中，SES和家庭混乱在不同亲子关系背景下与EF和SE技能的关系。SES与儿童基于实验室的EF相关，但与基于调查的EF或SE技能无关。家庭混乱与儿童的SE技能相关，有证据表明通过亲子关系完全中介，但与儿童的EF无关。尽管我们发现了调节作用的证据，但没有一个相互作用是预期的方向。因此，本研究未能找到证据表明亲子关系作为一种PCE可保护儿童的EF和SE技能免受SES和家庭混乱风险的影响。然而，亲子关系与儿童的调查EF和SE技能的相关性比任何一种ACE都更强，这表明在不同风险水平上培养亲子关系对儿童SE发展的重要性。研究结果增进了我们对积极和不良童年经历如何与多样化样本中的儿童发展相关的理解，并对测量方法和家庭政策具有启示意义。
