Social and family risk factors for infant development at one year: An application of the cumulative risk model

Abstract

This study examined the utility of using a cumulative risk model for predicting cognitive and language outcomes in an infant sample. The sample was comprised of 83 biologically normal 12 month-old African-American infants who attended local child care centers. The sample was 53% female and approximately two-thirds fell within the lower socioeconomic strata. Ten social and family risk factors based on Sameroff's risk model were used to construct a Cumulative Risk Index: poverty status, maternal education less than high school, household size, unmarried mother, stressful life events, depressed maternal affect, mother-infant interactions, maternal IQ, the quality of the home environment, and quality of the day care environment. Outcome measures included the Mental Development Index from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (MDI), the Total Score from the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale (CSBS), and the Receptive Communication Age score from the Sequenced Inventory for Communication Development-Revised (SICD-RCA). Results indicated that the Cumulative Risk Index was significantly correlated with the CSBS and SICD-RCA, but not with the MDI, with modest amounts of variance being accounted-for. Further, the predictive utility of the Cumulative Risk Index was slightly better than an overall regression model of prediction for the CSBS, but was outperformed by the regression model on the other two outcome measures.