Middle Socioeconomic Status Children Research Articles

Dynamic adaptation of the Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Task (IPDT) and the application for children with low socioeconomic status

<p id="p00010">Low socioeconomic status (SES) has an adverse effect on children’s cognitive development and academic achievement. The dynamic test is based on the concept of Vygotsky's “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD), which is an effective and necessary supplement to the conventional intelligence test. It can identify the cognitive potential especially for children with low SES, more comprehensively and accurately. This assessment can classify high-potential children who have not yet shown good cognitive performance but are likely to perform well through the intervention and assessment process. The domains of conservation and relations in the Inventory of Piaget’s Developmental Task (IPDT) have been proved to be applicable to children’s cognitive potential assessment in the lower grade of elementary school. Purpose of this study was to construct a dynamic test based on the representation, classification, and regulation domains of the IPDT in senior primary school children. Furthermore, the newly developed IPDT dynamic test was applied to the cognitive intervention study of low SES children to examine the improvement of cognitive ability and academic achievement of low SES children with different potentials after the inferential cognitive intervention. <p id="p00015">In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the dynamic test, ninety-one children in the fifth grade of a primary school were randomly selected as participants. The dynamic assessment consisted of four steps: pre-test, intervention, migration, and post-test, with each step having a set of questions. According to the theoretical basis and operation methods of the formulating intervention steps in the conservation and relations domains of IPDT, the intervention steps were divided into six levels, and the participants were prompted to answer step by step. The results showed that the passing rate of the participants increased with the interventional levels, indicating that the intervention was appropriate and effective at all levels. <p id="p00020">The study further distinguished the SES of 320 fifth-grade children from two primary schools, and evaluated children’s cognitive potentials through the adapted dynamic test of IPDT. Furthermore, the procedure of “pretest-inference cognitive intervention-posttest” was used to explore the cognitive changes and mathematical academic promotion of the low SES children with different potential. On the basis of controlling the pre-test scores, an ANCOVA was performed on the post-test scores of Raven’s inference test in children of different potential groups. The results showed that the post-test scores among the groups were significantly different. In the intervention group, the scores of the low SES children with high potentials were significantly higher than that of other three low SES groups, but withoutsignificant differences with the performance of middle SES children having high potentials. The post-test scores of math achievement also showed similar results. The scores of low SES children in control groups were significantly lower than those of middle SES children. In addition, the growth scores on Raven’s test of the two intervention groups were significantly higher than the other groups. <p id="p00025">In summary, according to the results of our research, two conclusions can be drawn: Firstly, the revised IPDT dynamic test in the domains of representation, classification, and regulation can effectively evaluate children’s cognitive potentials. Secondly, according to the revised IPDT dynamic test, it is inferred that cognitive intervention has different effects on low SES children with different potentials. After the intervention, children’s cognitive ability and math performance were improved in varying degrees. Low SES children with high potentials benefited more than children with low potential.

The Impact of Wealth Status on Food Intake Patterns in Filipino School-Aged Children and Adolescents.

Socio-economic status (SES) has an impact on food consumption in developing countries. However, the impact of SES on dietary patterns in Filipino school-aged children is currently unknown. The aim of this study was to fill this knowledge gap, using data from the 2013 National Nutrition Survey. Dietary intake of 11,691 children (6–18 years) were assessed using a 24-h recall. All food and beverages were assigned to one of 85 food groups. Mean daily intake, percent consuming (prevalence), and contribution to energy intake were determined, and stratified by SES, in 6–9 years old, 10–12 years old, and 13–18 years old. Rice was the most consumed food and the primary source of energy across all three age groups, independent of SES. Children of poor SES presented greater consumption of fish, vegetables, fruit, and table sugar (p < 0.05). In comparison, children of rich and middle SES presented greater consumption of milk, chicken, pork, sausages, and soft-drinks (p < 0.05). In conclusion, SES impacts the type of foods consumed by Filipino children, with children in the poorest households being most at risk of consuming low-variety diets. This analysis could be used to support public health strategies to improve dietary diversity, and potentially nutrient intake, in Filipino children.

Training numerical skills with the adaptive videogame “The Number Race”: A randomized controlled trial on preschoolers

Adaptive computer games offer an attractive method for numeracy training in young children. However, the evidence for transfer of learning to standard measures of numerical and arithmetic skills is scarce. We carried out a randomized controlled trial on a sample of preschool children of middle socio-economic status to evaluate the effectiveness of the freeware videogame “The Number Race” (Wilson et al., 2006). Children were randomly assigned to the training group or to the control group performing an alternative computer-based activity matched for duration and setting. The groups were matched for age, gender, and IQ. Training yielded large improvements in mental calculation and spatial mapping of numbers, as well as smaller improvements in the semantic representation of numbers. Our findings complement previous studies that showed beneficial effects for disadvantaged children, thereby suggesting that “The Number Race” is a valuable tool for fostering mathematical learning in the general population of young children.

Profiles in Bilingualism: Factors Influencing Kindergartners’ Language Proficiency

Three common assumptions concerning bilingual children’s language proficiency are: (1) their proficiency in two languages is usually unbalanced; (2) low socioeconomic status (SES) indicates low proficiency in both languages; and (3) encouraging parents to speak some societal language at home will promote its development. Examining the vocabulary scores of 282 bilingual Singaporean kindergartners (167 Chinese, 70 Malay, and 45 Tamil), the current study found that these young children were evenly divided among four language profiles: strong in ethnic language (Chinese, Malay or Tamil) or English, strong in both languages, or weak in both. Children with high proficiency in both languages were proportionally represented in the low, middle and high SES groups, demonstrating the achievability of strong vocabulary in two languages for children of different SES. However, low SES children were most at risk for low proficiency in both languages, although many achieved high proficiency in ethnic language or both. Middle and high SES children were most likely to demonstrate low ethnic language with high English proficiency. Children mostly exposed to one language from different sources generally showed strength in that language. Children exposed to both languages at home were most likely to show low proficiency in both languages, although plenty of children exposed to both languages developed high proficiency in English or both. These results affirm previous findings that SES and home language exposure influence bilingual children’s proficiency. Implications include the importance of teachers assessing bilingual children’s proficiency in both languages and collaborating with parents to develop bilingual children’s vocabulary.

Socioeconomic variation in the growth status of urban school children 6–13 years in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1972 and 2000

Socioeconomic variation in the growth status of urban school children 6-13 years of age in 1972 and 2000 was compared. The children were resident in the city of Oaxaca and were students in the same primary school in each year. Socioeconomic status (SES) was based on parental occupation. Height, sitting height, estimated leg length, weight, and the body mass index in 218 boys and 191 girls in 1972 and 173 boys and 166 girls in 2000 were compared. Sex-specific MANCOVA was used to evaluate SES differences within each year, while sex- and SES-specific MANCOVA was used to evaluate differences between years. The prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity was estimated. There were no SES differences among boys and girls in 1972 and boys in 2000; low-middle and middle SES girls were significantly taller and heavier with longer legs than low SES girls in 2000. Within each SES group, children in 2000 were significantly larger in body size and segment lengths except for sitting height in low SES children of both sexes. Estimated secular gains increased from low to low-middle to middle SES in both sexes. Inequitable gains by SES contributed to an increase in the magnitude of differences between SES groups, especially between low SES children on one hand and low-middle and middle SES children on the other hand. The prevalence of stunting declined while the prevalence of overweight and to a lesser extent in obesity increased from 1972 to 2000, more so in low-middle and middle SES than in low SES children.

Exposure to English Before and After Entry into Head Start1: Bilingual Children's Receptive Language Growth in Spanish and English

This investigation examined the Spanish and English receptive vocabulary and language comprehension abilities of bilingual preschoolers who attended Head Start over a two-year period. It was hypothesised that bilingual children's development would follow linear trajectories and that the development of children who were only exposed to Spanish in the home prior to school entry would differ from children with exposure to Spanish and English from birth. Results revealed that the two groups’ language abilities in Spanish and English differed at the beginning of the study as measured by raw and standard scores and that these differences were maintained over the two years. The exceptions to this were found in the children's vocabulary abilities, with the difference between the two groups’ English standard scores narrowing over time and the difference between their Spanish standard scores increasing during the two-year period. Similar to research on monolingual and bilingual children with low socioeconomic status (SES), children's development in both languages essentially followed linear trajectories. Children's raw scores on the English receptive vocabulary test accelerated, similar to research findings on monolingual children of middle SES. Also, children's standard scores on the Spanish language comprehension measure decelerated after an initial period of linear growth. Future directions for research are discussed.

Socioeconomic gradients predict individual differences in neurocognitive abilities

Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with childhood cognitive achievement. In previous research we found that this association shows neural specificity; specifically we found that groups of low and middle SES children differed disproportionately in perisylvian/language and prefrontal/executive abilities relative to other neurocognitive abilities. Here we address several new questions: To what extent does this disparity between groups reflect a gradient of SES-related individual differences in neurocognitive development, as opposed to a more categorical difference? What other neurocognitive systems differ across individuals as a function of SES? Does linguistic ability mediate SES differences in other systems? And how do specific prefrontal/executive subsystems vary with SES? One hundred and fifty healthy, socioeconomically diverse first-graders were administered tasks tapping language, visuospatial skills, memory, working memory, cognitive control, and reward processing. SES explained over 30% of the variance in language, and a smaller but highly significant portion of the variance in most other systems. Statistically mediating factors and possible interventional approaches are discussed.

Preschool Teachers' Beliefs About Appropriate Early Literacy and Mathematics Education for Low- and Middle-Socioeconomic Status Children

This study explored preschool teachers' beliefs about the appropriateness of early literacy and mathematics education. In all, 60 teachers of 4-year-olds, half working with low-socioeconomic status (SES) children at publicly funded preschools and the other half with middle-SES children at private preschools, were randomly assigned to read either the mathematics or the literacy versions of written vignettes describing issues related to teaching these subjects. Teachers were interviewed individually concerning the vignettes. Analyses showed that teachers of middle-SES children tended to support literacy and mathematics education that respects individual children and their preferences and to oppose classroom use of computers; overall they emphasized nonacademic areas. Teachers of low-SES children tended to focus on literacy and mathematics to prepare children for kindergarten and to support computer use; they showed concern about their students' underdeveloped readiness to learn, particularly literacy. Analyses comparing subject matter showed that for literacy, teachers preferred to gear a curriculum toward children's interests and to allow children to follow their interests in a literacy-rich classroom to promote social competence and positive dispositions toward literacy. For mathematics, teachers preferred to embed mathematics into everyday routines to promote the learning of key knowledge and skills throughout the day. These findings have significant implications for professional development.

Neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children

Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognitive ability and achievement during childhood and beyond. Little is known about the developmental relationships between SES and specific brain systems or their associated cognitive functions. In this study we assessed neurocognitive functioning of kindergarteners from different socioeconomic backgrounds, using tasks drawn from the cognitive neuroscience literature in order to determine how childhood SES predicts the normal variance in performance across different neurocognitive systems. Five neurocognitive systems were examined: the occipitotemporal/visual cognition system, the parietal/spatial cognition system, the medial temporal/memory system, the left perisylvian/language system, and the prefrontal/executive system. SES was disproportionately associated with the last two, with low SES children performing worse than middle SES children on most measures of these systems. Relations among language, executive function, SES and specific aspects of early childhood experience were explored, revealing intercorrelations and a seemingly predominant role of individual differences in language ability involved in SES associations with executive function.

Telling the Unknown Story Complex and Explicit Narration by African American Preadolescents—Preliminary Examination of Gender and Socioeconomic Issues

This article investigates the oral personal narration of 16 African American children, 8 males and 8 females. Half of the 16 children were from a low socioeconomic status (SES) and half from a middle SES background. Narratives were analyzed using dependency analysis and yielded the following measures: fully implicit propositions, partially implicit propositions, explicit propositions, repeated propositions, internal corrections, and false starts, the highest level of proposition, and reported speech. There was a main effect of gender and SES on the highest level of proposition articulated. Girls achieved a significantly higher level of proposition than did boys, indicating a tendency to greater elaboration in their discourses. Of greatest interest was the finding that low SES children achieved a significantly higher level of proposition than did middle SES children.

Social group membership and perceptions of the self in Northern Irish children

Social disadvantage and minority group membership are believed to have an adverse effect on the development of the self-concept. However, the exact effects of such factors on children’s self-competence and self-esteem are still subject to debate, with some authors arguing that it is not until later in life that the adverse psychological effects of social disadvantage become apparent. This study therefore examined the relationship between gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and age on self-competence and self-esteem in childhood. Eight- to eleven-year-old children ( N = 689) completed the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) and the results were analysed using MANOVA. Substantial gender differences in self-perceptions across several domains, including global self-esteem, were evident. The analysis also indicated that children of lower SES and from the Roman Catholic (minority) community in Northern Ireland had significantly less positive self-perceptions than middle SES and Protestant (majority group) children in a range of domains. These differences, however, were generally only evidenced at ages 10 and 11. Discussion of these results highlights the influence of group memberships on children’s social development, particularly at the preadolescent stage, and points to the need to consider the combined effects of psychosocial identities and socioeconomic background on the development of self-perceptions.

A Dietary Survey of Preschool Age Children in Five Cities in the People's Republic of China

Survey Design: 48 hour food records: 200 children per site. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks taken at day care. Ingredients of prepared foods quantified. Plate waste determined. Subjects/Setting: Children of middle socioeconomic status, ages 3, 4, 5 and 6, attending day care. Main Outcome Measures: Energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat, cholesterol, vitamins A, E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, selenium, manganese, and copper. Results: Preliminary data suggests a large proportion (60%) of preschoolers are consuming less than 80% of the Chinese Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDAs) for calcium, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, zinc,selenium and energy. Mean dietary cholesterol intake was high. These low intakes of calcium, riboflavin and vitamin A are attributed to the infrequent use of fortified milk and dairy products. Conclusion: Age-appropriate nutrition education in China is needed to increase consumption of calcium rich foods in children. Routine fortification of foods is not currently done in China and should be considered. A significant proportion of Chinese children may have subclinical micro-nutrient deficiencies, with potential consequences for long term health and development.

Verbal Communication, Nonverbal Communication, and Private Speech in Lower and Middle Socioeconomic Status Preschool Children

Three types of communication--verbal, nonverbal, and private speech--were investigated in 4- and 5-year-old children. Multiple analyses of variance (MANOVAs) without IQ controlled and multiple analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) with IQ as a covariate were computed and followed by ANOVAs and ANCOVAs to determine the effects of sex, age, and socioeconomic status (SES) on each of these types of communication. The ANOVAs and the ANCOVAs yielded the same conclusions. Results indicated that age and SES, but not sex, influence the use of the three communication types. From age 4 to age 5, private speech decreased for middle SES children and remained the same for lower SES children. Although lower SES children had more nonverbal communication at both age levels than middle SES children, nonverbal communication decreased for middle SES children and increased for lower SES children between the ages of 4 and 5 years. Both lower and middle SES groups increased in verbal communication between the two ages. The middle SES 4-year-olds used more verbal communication than their lower SES counterparts, and the difference was maintained at age 5. Although IQ is related to verbal communication, statistically controlling for the effects of IQ did not change the conclusions.

Obesity in lower and middle socio-economic status mothers and their children.

To identify potential nursing interventions for obesity in lower socioeconomic status populations, the relationships between maternal and child obesity, socioeconomic status, maternal nutritional knowledge, and locus of control for maternal weight in 144 children and their mothers were studied. Subjects were recruited from two clinic populations; Clinic 1 was of lower socioeconomic status than Clinic 2. As compared with those from Clinic 2, mothers from Clinic 1 were heavier, had less nutritional knowledge, and were more external with respect to locus of weight control. There was a trend for Clinic 1 children to be heavier than those in Clinic 2 but this finding was not statistically significant. The lower socioeconomic status children significantly resembled their mothers' adiposity (possibly foreshadowing adult obesity), however, the middle socioeconomic status children did not resemble their mothers.

Obesity and socioeconomic class in children and their mothers.

An attempt was made to identify environmental (potentially modifiable) factors which might contribute to the excess risk for obesity existing in lower socioeconomic status (SES) populations. The relationships between relative weights of children and their mothers, SES, maternal nutritional knowledge, maternal weight locus of control (WLOC), and hours of television viewed daily by children (TV) were evaluated in 144 children (mean age 5.9 years, range 2 to 14) and their mothers. The degree of overweight in children was measured by percent weight for height and expressed as the percentile for age. Maternal weight was expressed as the percent ideal body weight. SES was assessed separately by a 9-point rating scale of paternal occupation and by years of parental education, nutritional knowledge using a newly developed 17-item questionnaire, and WLOC by a previously developed scale. Subjects were recruited from two clinic populations selected to differ in socioeconomic status. Mothers from the lower SES clinic were heavier, had less nutritional knowledge, and perceived themselves as having less control of their own weight (external) than their higher SES counterparts. Hours of daily TV viewing were similar in both groups. Children from a lower SES resembled their mothers with regard to weight, whereas the middle SES children did not. Using multiple regression analysis, nutritional knowledge, external locus of control, and child TV viewing predicted maternal weight with a correlation of 0.4 in the lower SES clinic, but less strongly in the middle SES clinic. These results suggest that the increased risk for the development of obesity in children from lower SES populations can be decreased in part by programs directed at maternal weight control, including nutritional education and behavioral efforts focused on increasing internal weight locus of control. This approach is less likely to be successful in middle class populations.

Developmental effects of child abuse: A review

Most research investigating the effects of physical child abuse on children's development has been based on uncontrolled or poorly controlled studies having small samples, no long-term follow-up, and weak instrumentation. These studies, as well as some which have been more carefully designed, have generally suggested seriously detrimental developmental consequences in physical, intellectual, behavioral, and emotional areas. Some recent controlled follow-up studies challenge such a negative picture of abuse. In particular, a study by Elmer, which is probably the most carefully conducted study yet done, found that the harmful effects of abuse dissipated years after the abusive incident and that socioeconomic status (SES) and related factors may be more important than abuse in determining the course of child development. To improve the quality and clarity of future research on developmental effects of child abuse, this paper discusses, in four major areas, problems which plague the research. Definition: The extent, type, and frequency of abuse should be more carefully defined to allow studies to be compared. The types and amounts of social service interventions should also be specified. Generalization: Research should include more middle and upper SES children, more of the mildly and moderately abused, and more neglected children to allow generalization to the total population of maltreated children. Causality: Since developmental deficits may be the cause as well as the effects of abuse and because outside factors such as SES may lead to both the abuse and the deficits, there is a need for large-scale longitudinal studies which can untangle the cause and effect web of abuse by following children from birth and measuring many factors which might affect development (e.g., SES, birth abnormalities, abuse). Statistical Analysis: Future studies should always use statistical analysis and should obtain larger samples and utilize outcome and classification measures with demonstrated reliability and validity to increase statistical power.

SUB‐CULTURAL DIFFERENCES ON SELECTED COGNITIVE TASKS

Summary. The present study investigated some relationships between age, socio‐economic status (SES), and cognitive task performance among 120 children from Grades 1 and 4. A battery of tasks differing in transformational requirements and ostensibly in cultural loading was administered to all children. Analyses of results indicate that low SES children were more handicapped in some tasks of so‐called reasoning ability when compared to middle SES children. But contrary to expectations, the test scores of the contrasted SES groups were more disparate in Grade 1 than in Grade 4. For the older age group, SES differences on the culturally loaded Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) were apparent, whereas differences on the culturally‐reduced Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices were statistically non‐significant.

The effect of training in categorization on free recall: Some implications for Jensen's two-level theory

The effect of training in categorization on free recall learning was investigated in order to clarify an issue relating to Jensen's two-level theory of ability, namely, whether training in categorizetion would eliminate the reported association between free recall of categorized lists and socioeconomic status (SES). The subjects were 132 children partitioned into three groups on the basis of SES and two ability tests measuring fluid and crystallized intelligence (Cattell, 1963). Half the children in each group underwent training in categorization, and half were allocated to a control condition. The results revealed an interaction between ability and training. Low SES children of high fluid intelligence benefitted from categorization training and improved substantially in free recall of a categorized list so as to equal the performance of middle SES children. In contrast, low SES children matched for crystallized intelligence but scoring low in fluid intelligence did not benefit from training. The same three groups of children also learned an uncategorized list. The results did not support Jensen's hypothesis that free recall of uncategorized lists is unrelated to intelligence and SES.

An epidemiologic study of deciduous molar relations in preschool children.

This study indicated that distoclusion decreased significantly with age and was more prevalent in siblings of children with Class II molar relation as compared with the prevalence for the total population. Children of middle socioeconomic status (SES) and girls with Class I molar relation had prevalences of posterior crossbite significantly greater than lower SES children and boys, respectively. Finger habits were highly associated with posterior crossbite (P less than 0.001).

Psycholinguistic Abilities of Black and White Children from Four SES Levels

The Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, revised edition, was administered to 160 black and white children of average mental ability from the lower lower, upper lower, lower middle, and upper middle socioeconomic status (SES) levels as determined by the McGuire-White Index of Socioeconomic Status. The results indicate that the level of performance and pattern of psycholinguistic abilities of black children is relatively free of a systematic influence from SES but the performance of white children is related to socioeconomic status. The lower SES levels and black children showed more variability than the middle SES and white children. The reported lower SES visual-motor orientation and middle SES auditory-vocal orientation were not supported in this study.