Abstract
Early developmental success and school readiness strongly influence future skill development, occupational opportunities, and health. Therefore, it is critical to identify and address early determinants of school readiness for supporting children’s overall well-being and success. In this retrospective cohort study, we examined the effects of pre-birth household challenges, such as homelessness or experiences of intimate partner violence, on children’s early school readiness. We linked data from the Alaska 2009–2011 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) to administrative and education records through 2019. Education records included kindergarten developmental scores, third grade reading assessments, and attendance records. Generalized linear models with Quasi-Poisson distributions for each outcome of interest examined the predictive value of pre-birth household challenges on the risks of not meeting school readiness expectations. We found that experiencing higher numbers of pre-birth household challenges was related to higher risk of the child not meeting developmental and reading proficiency and having chronic absenteeism. These results suggest that it is imperative support systems for pregnant persons and their families be introduced as soon as possible in pre-natal care routines to address current pre-birth household stressors and prevent future challenges. Such early prevention efforts are needed to ensure the best possible developmental start for children.
Highlights
The pre-natal period, including the health and well-being of the pregnant parent, is crucial for a child’s early developmental success [1]
While prior research has identified risk factors for not meeting early school readiness related to perinatal stressors, no study to these authors’ knowledge has directly studied the effect of pre-birth household challenges experienced by the birthing parent around pregnancy on multiple measures of school readiness and early academic achievement of the child in a representative statewide longitudinal cohort. To fill this knowledge need, the current study examined whether the number of pre-birth household challenges experienced by the birthing parent predicted the child’s school readiness and early academic achievement, as measured by performance on the Alaska kindergarten developmental profile assessment, third grade reading assessments, and average school attendance
A total of 3549 birthing parents responded to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey, which represents 33,417 (±233) children born in Alaska during 2009–2011
Summary
The pre-natal period, including the health and well-being of the pregnant parent, is crucial for a child’s early developmental success [1]. High pre-natal stress experienced by the birthing parent is associated with suboptimal cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes for school aged children (for reviews, see [2,3]). Such outcomes underly a child’s school readiness, or how prepared they are to succeed in school cognitively, socially, physically, and emotionally [4]. Major stressful pre-birth challenges experienced by the birthing parent around the time of pregnancy may have profound negative impacts on their child’s school readiness and future achievement. The current study aimed to clarify this relationship between pre-birth household challenges experienced by the birthing parent and their potential impact on the child’s school readiness and achievement in a longitudinal Alaskan cohort
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