Sample Of Low-income Children Research Articles

Geospatial Food Environment Exposure and Obesity among Low Income Baltimore City Children: Associations Differ by Data Source and Processing Method

ABSTRACT Due to the high prevalence of childhood obesity, it is imperative to assess the relationship children’s access to food retailers and obesity. However, the influence of methodological decisions on these associations has been understudied. We examined relationships between different measures of geospatial food environment (using 4 data sources, and 2 data processing methods), and BMI in a sample of low-income children in Baltimore, Maryland. The choice of data sources and data processing methods produced large differences in estimates of children’s exposures to certain store types, such as supermarket-like stores, but had less impact on associations with BMI z-scores.

Bidirectional Relations between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Children’s Behavioral Problems

Research has shown that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk of poor health and well-being, yet less is known about the pathways through which these life outcomes emerge. For instance, prospective, longitudinal research into the link between ACEs and the trajectories of children’s behavioral problems is limited. Moreover, no longitudinal study has investigated whether children’s behavioral problems also increase their risk of adverse experiences over time. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore bidirectional relations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and children’s behavioral problems in a sample of low-income children. This study uses the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort study of 4898 children followed from birth through 15 years of age. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model was fit to examine the bidirectional relations between ACEs and child behavioral problems. Study findings indicated that age 5 ACEs score significantly predicted age 9 anxious or depressed problems and age 9 aggressive problems. Age 5 anxious or depressed problems also significantly predicted age 9 ACEs exposure. From age 3 to age 9, ACEs also played a dominant role in the bidirectional relations with behavioral problems. There were certain bidirectional relations between ACEs and child behavioral problems. The findings have implications for understanding the etiology and consequences of adversities as well as the design of prevention and intervention strategies.

Using a multidimensional model of attention to predict low-income preschoolers' early academic skills across time.

The current study examines the organization of attention skills across the preschool year before kindergarten, and tests how distinct attention subcomponents predict early academic skills in a sample of low-income children (n=99). Children completed well-validated attention tasks in fall at 4.5 years old and spring at 5 years old, capturing the abilities to selectively focus, sustain attention, and employ executive control. Exploratory factor analyses at both time points support a 2-factor model differentiating selective and sustained attention from attention processing speed and executive attention, suggesting that attention in low-income preschoolers may have a simpler organization than the 3-factor structure found in adulthood. Multiple regression models find children's ability to selectively focus and sustain attention serves as a robust concurrent and longitudinal predictor of academic skills. These results highlight the role of selective and sustained attention processes in supporting school readiness for economically vulnerable children.

Processed food consumption is associated with diet quality, but not weight status, in a sample of low-income and ethnically diverse elementary school children

Excess consumption of highly processed foods may be associated with lower diet quality and obesity prevalence, but few studies have examined these relationships in children from low-income households. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between food consumption by processing category, diet quality as measured by the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of low-income children. Data from a study assessing the impact of Summer Food Service participation on diet quality and weight status (N = 131) was used to conduct a cross-sectional analysis of children aged six to twelve years from low-income communities in the Northeastern U.S. Total HEI-2015 score and percentage of calories consumed by processing level were computed per day from three 24-h diet recalls. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the relationship between percentage of calories from foods by processing category (unprocessed and minimally, basic, moderately and highly processed), HEI-2015 and BMI-z score. The final sample was 58% male and 33.8% obese. On average, children consumed 39.8 ± 17.2% of calories from highly processed foods. A 10% increase in calories consumed from highly processed foods was associated with a 2.0 point decrease in total HEI-2015 score [95% CI (−2.7, −1.2)], and a 10% increase in calories from minimally processed foods was associated with a 3.0 increase in HEI-2015 score [95% CI (2.1, 3.8)]. Relationships between processing level and BMI-z score were not significant. Among this sample of low-income children, greater intake of highly processed foods was associated with lower dietary quality, but not weight status. Future research should explore prospective associations between food consumption by processing category and weight status in children.

Forecasting Accuracy of Earliest Assessment Versus Transitional Change in Early Education Classroom Problem Behavior Among Children at Risk

ABSTRACTThis study compared the relative contribution of earliest assessment of preschool children’s context-specific problem behaviors with subsequent observations of those behaviors for the prediction of later academic and sociobehavioral performance in first grade. Using a nationally representative sample of low-income children from the Head Start Impact Study (N = 3,827), children’s problem behaviors in 22 classroom situational contexts were assessed annually through 2 years of prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade. Results from a two-stage analytical approach support the use of earliest assessment as a suitable strategy for the identification and intervention of children’s classroom problem behaviors, where subsequent observations did not increase predictive accuracy over earliest assessment alone. Implications are discussed for assessment theory and practice.

An in-home intervention of parent-implemented strategies to increase child vegetable intake: results from a non-randomized cluster-allocated community trial

BackgroundLess than 2% of children in the U.S., ages 9–13, meet the minimum dietary recommendations for vegetable intake. The home setting provides potential opportunities to promote dietary behavior change among children, yet limited trials exist with child vegetable intake as a primary outcome. Strategies to increase vegetable intake grounded in behavioral economics are no/low cost and may be easily implemented in the home by parents.MethodsThis non-randomized, controlled study tested whether an intervention of parent-led strategies informed by behavioral economics and implemented within a series of 6 weekly parent-child vegetable cooking skills classes, improved dietary outcomes of a diverse sample of low-income children (ages 9–12) more than the vegetable cooking skills classes alone. The primary outcomes were total vegetable intake, dietary quality (HEI scores), total energy intake, vegetable liking, variety of vegetables tried, child BMI-z score, and home availability of vegetables. Outcome measures were collected at baseline, immediate post-treatment, 6 and 12 months follow-up. Mixed model regression analyses with fixed independent effects (treatment condition, time point and treatment condition x time interaction) were used to compare outcomes between treatment conditions.ResultsA total of 103 parent/child pairs (intervention = 49, control = 54) were enrolled and 91 (intervention = 44, control = 47) completed the weekly cooking skills program. The intervention did not improve child total vegetable intake. Intervention children increased dark green vegetable intake from immediate post-treatment to 12 months. The number of vegetables children tried increased and mean vegetable liking decreased over time for both control and intervention children.ConclusionsFindings from this study suggest that the strategies and the manner in which they were implemented may not be effective in low-income populations. The burden of implementing a number of strategies with potentially higher food costs may have constrained the ability of families in the current study to use the strategies as intended.Trial registrationThis trial has been retrospectively registered at : #NCT03641521 on August 21, 2018.

Magnitude and Chronicity of Environmental Smoke Exposure Across Infancy and Early Childhood in a Sample of Low-Income Children.

Infants and young children may be at an increased risk for second- and thirdhand exposure to tobacco smoke because of increased respiration rate and exposure to surface residue. However, relatively fewer studies have examined biomarkers of exposure (cotinine) in children under age 4 years. This study examines the magnitude and chronicity of exposure across early childhood among children from low-income families in order to better characterize contextual risk factors associated with exposure. A total of 1292 families were recruited in six nonurban counties of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Cotinine was assayed from infant saliva at 6, 15, 24, and 48 months of age (N = 1218), and categorized as low (≤0.45 ng/mL), moderate (0.46-12 ng/mL), or high (≥12 ng/mL) at each time point. Categories were highly correlated across time. Latent class analysis was used to summarize patterns of exposure categories across time. Magnitude of exposure in this sample was high, with approximately 12% of infants registering cotinine values at least 12 ng/mL, consistent with active smoking in adults. Greater exposure was associated with lower income, less education, more residential instability, and more instability in adult occupants in the home, whereas time spent in center-based day care was associated with lower exposure. Young children from low-income, nonurban communities appear to bear a higher burden of secondhand smoke exposure than previous studies have reported. Results contribute to understanding populations at greater risk, as well as specific, potentially malleable, environmental factors that may be examined as direct contributors to exposure. Results suggest that infants from low-income, nonurban families have higher risk for environmental smoke exposure than data from nationally representative samples. Predictors of exposure offer insights into specific factors that may be targeted for risk reduction efforts, specifically conditions of children's physical space. In addition to considering the increases in risk when an adult smoker lives in a child's home, families should also attend to the possible risk embedded within the home itself, such as residual smoke from previous occupants. For high-risk children, day care appears to mitigate the magnitude of exposure by providing extended time in a smoke-free environment.

Gross Motor Skills and Cardiometabolic Risk in Children: A Mediation Analysis.

The purpose of this study was to examine the linear relationship between gross motor skills and cardiometabolic risk, with aerobic fitness as a mediator variable, in low-income children from the United States. Participants were a convenience sample of 224 children (mean ± SD age = 9.1 ± 1.1 yr; 129 girls and 95 boys) recruited from five low-income elementary schools from the Mountain West Region of the United States. Gross motor skills were assessed using the Test for Gross Motor Development, 3rd Edition. Gross motor skills were analyzed using a locomotor skill, a ball skill, and a total gross motor skill score. Aerobic fitness was assessed using the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run that was administered during physical education class. A continuous and age- and sex-adjusted metabolic syndrome score (MetS) was calculated from health and blood marker measurements collected in a fasted state before school hours. Total effects, average direct effects, and indirect effects (average causal mediation effect) were calculated using a bootstrap mediation analysis method via a linear regression algorithm. The average causal mediation effect of gross locomotor skills on MetS scores, using aerobic fitness as the mediator variable, was statistically significant (β = -0.055, 95% confidence interval = -0.097 to -0.021, P = 0.003). The model explained approximately 17.5% of the total variance in MetS with approximately 43.7% of the relationship between locomotor skills and MetS mediated through aerobic fitness. Ball skills did not significantly relate with cardiometabolic risk. There is a significant relationship between gross locomotor skills and cardiometabolic risk that is partially mediated through aerobic fitness in a sample of low-income children from the United States.

Head Start and children's nutrition, weight, and health care receipt

Using a sample of low-income children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (N≈4350) and propensity-score weighted regressions, we analyzed children's nutrition, weight, and health care receipt at kindergarten entry, comparing (1) Head Start participants and all non-participants, and (2) Head Start participants and children in prekindergarten, other center-based care, other non-parental care, or only parental care. Overall, we found that compared to all non-participants, Head Start participants were more likely to receive dental checkups but showed no differences in getting medical checkups; they were also more likely to have healthy eating patterns but showed no differences in Body Mass Index (BMI), overweight, or obesity. However, these results varied depending on the comparison group—Head Start participants showed lower BMI scores and lower probability of overweight compared to those in other non-parental care, and the effects on healthy eating and dental checkups differed by comparison group.

Longitudinal associations among interest, persistence, supportive parenting, and achievement in early childhood

This study investigates two facets of children's school readiness: interest in new cognitive tasks (interest) and persistence in task completion (persistence). Little attention has been paid to the early development of these learning behaviors, although they might prove susceptible to intervention even before school entry. Using data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a sample of low-income children (N=1771) was followed to model bidirectional associations among interest and persistence and maternal supportive parenting between ages 1 and 3, and estimate associations between children's interest and persistence at age 3 and their academic skills at age 5. Results indicate that maternal supportive parenting influences children's interest and persistence more strongly and consistently than interest or persistence influences parenting, and that interest but not persistence transacts with parenting over time. Interest and persistence were equally predictive of children's early academic skills. Findings affirm that both interest and persistence during toddlerhood predict children's academic standing at school entry.

Child-Specific Food Insecurity and Overweight Are Not Associated in a Sample of 10- to 15-Year-Old Low-Income Youth ,

In the United States, 17% of children and adolescents are overweight and 20% live in a food insecure household. Previous studies examining the association between household food insecurity and overweight among children have been inconclusive but are limited insofar as they did not assess child-specific measures of food insecurity and overweight. In response, this study examined the association between food insecurity and child overweight status when these variables were measured for the same child using information on children (n = 1031) aged 10–15 y from the Three-City Study. Approximately 8% of the children were food insecure, whereas 50% were either at risk of overweight or overweight. Bivariate analyses indicated that there were no significant differences in the prevalence of at risk of overweight and overweight between food secure and food insecure children. Gender, race, and income showed similar patterns. Results from logistic regression analyses also indicated that the likelihood of being overweight or at risk of overweight was not significantly different for food secure and food insecure children. Although child-specific food insecurity was not associated with overweight in this sample of low-income children, food insecurity and overweight coexist among these low-income children, because ∼25% of the food insecure children were overweight. Additional research is needed to explore the potential relationships between food insecurity and overweight and to better inform policy that attempts to address these issues among low-income households with children.

Contemporaneous and Longitudinal Associations Between Social Behavior and Literacy Achievement in a Sample of Low‐Income Elementary School Children

This study investigates associations between social skills (aggression and prosocial behavior) and literacy achievement in a sample of low-income children (between 4 and 6 years old when the study began) during elementary school. Results revealed consistent associations between social skills and literacy achievement in the first, third, and fifth grades, but the patterns of the associations were different for aggression and prosocial behavior. While the strength of the association between aggression and literacy achievement increased over the elementary grades, the association between prosocial behavior and literacy achievement decreased. In addition, path analyses revealed that poor literacy achievement in the first and third grades predicted relatively high aggressive behavior in the third and fifth grades, respectively.

Social Support and Aggressive Behavior in Young Children

This study considered the relationship between social support and aggressive behavior in a sample of 5to 7-year-old children from low-income families. Support networks were defined to include older siblings, fathers, and other adults who performed any of three child-care functions: physical maintenance, nurturance, and discipline. Both interview and observational data were used to assess the child's support network. The results indicate that the relationship between social support and aggression is influenced by both the category of network member and the type of support offered by network members. Applications of network analysis in the provision of services to families under stress are discussed. The importance of social support in moderating the effects of life stress for adults has long been recognized (Caplan, 1974; Cobb, 1976; Dean & Lin, 1977; Kaplan, Cassel, & Gore, 1973). A main conclusion of this literature is that under conditions of high stress, the presence of social support-defined as emotional and instrumental assistance from others-can decrease the susceptibility of the individual to both physical and emotional problems. Social support may be of importance to the child living under stressful conditions such as poverty, separation and divorce, or maternal mental ill health. These conditions tend to interfere with the mother-child relationship, in that mothers under stress find it difficult to provide nurturance and emotional support and often exhibit harshness and inconsistency in discipline (Blumenthal & Dielman, 1975; Cohler et al., 1974; Giovannoni & Billingsley, 1970; Hetherington, Cox, & Cox, 1978; Longfellow, Zelkowitz, & Saunders, 1982; Weissman & Paykel, 1974). These patterns of maternal behavior have been found to be associated with aggressive behavior in children (Martin, 1975). It is not clear whether stress contributes directly to the development of children's behavior problems. Some studies have not found a direct relationship between life stress and children's social adjustment (Gersten, Langer, Eisenberg, & Simcha-Fagan, 1977; Zelkowitz, 1982). However, a model can be developed in which life stress affects the mother's ability to nurture her child, which in turn is related to the social adjustment of the child. The child's negative social behavior may further erode the mother's capacity to discipline effectively by undermining her self-esteem and inducing feelings of depression. This vicious cycle may result in rapid deterioration of the child's social adjustment (Patterson, 1980). Nonetheless, in many families which are subject to stressfu I I if e ci rcu mstances, the children do not exhibit behavior problems (Rutter, 1978). One possible protective factor might be the availability of social support for the child. Such support, which may be defined as the gratification of the child's basic needs for physical care, nurturance, and discipline by individuals other than the mother, might have a salutary effect on children's social adjustment under conditions of low maternal nurturance. There is some evidence that children can benefit from support in times of stress. In a study of the effects of stressful life events on a sample of low-income children in kindergarten through third grade, Sandler (1980) found that the presence of an older sib-