Extending findings from a 26-year longitudinal study of educational opportunity, we examine whether opportunities are related to the educational attainment and earnings of children from lower-income households ( n = 226) as a function of when in a child’s development they occur. We compare the predictive power of opportunities accrued within three key developmental stages—early childhood, middle childhood, or adolescence—with the combined power of opportunities accrued across these stages. Our findings point to the value of educational opportunity in all three stages, particularly for educational attainment.

The persistent gendered pattern in academic achievement, whereby girls outperform boys in language while boys excel in mathematics, is evident as early as primary school. The literature highlights parental input as a key predictor of child development, yet less is known about its role in the context of gender differences in early academic skills. The present study investigated variability in parental input as a function of child gender. Using longitudinal academic scores from a large sample of Russian first-graders (N = 1240, 49.5 % female), as well as their parents' reports on math and language home activities, this study examined parental input as a potential mediator of gender differences in children's language and math skills. Results confirmed the gendered pattern in children's academic skills and revealed that parents were more frequently involved in literacy activities with girls, while the opposite trend was observed for math activities with boys. Additionally, changes in gender differences in children's language and math skills over the period of the study were mediated by language and math parental input, respectively. The discussion explores the implications of these findings for understanding the nature of gender differences and considers potential approaches to addressing these disparities.

Social media is a popular tool for caregivers and educators to find and share learning activities for children. Yet there is little empirical work on the educational quality of these activities. The current study identified early learning (n = 108) and early math (n = 216) activities posted on TikTok. Activity videos were coded for the presence/absence of mathematical content and the extent to which activities aligned with theoretical and empirical evidence on promoting early learning and mathematical cognition. Results indicated that less than one-third-of early learning activities contained math content. Additionally, many early math activities were limited to basic, numerical skills and lacked alignment with learning science principles. Findings demonstrate the need for research on the implementation of these activities and are discussed with attention to improving public awareness of (a) the scope and importance of early math and (b) best practices for supporting children’s math learning.

Childhood self-control difficulties have been associated with a higher risk of obesity. However, recent studies suggest that maintaining high self-control under chronic adversity may also pose health risks. Yet, few studies have considered how self-control changes over time. Using a nationally representative sample, we identified four self-control trajectories across elementary school: high-stable, moderate-increasing, moderate-decreasing, and low-stable. We examined associations between trajectories and body mass index (BMI) in fifth grade, considering poverty and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Our findings suggest a health-promoting role of self-control regardless of poverty status. Children with high-stable trajectory had BMI scores over 10% of a standard deviation lower - approximately 0.63 and 0.54 points lower BMI - than either those in the moderate-increasing or moderate-decreasing trajectory groups. However, BMI differences across trajectories were generally not significant for minority children. This study enhances understanding of the complex relations between self-control, poverty, and BMI in school-aged children with different racial/ethnic backgrounds.

National interest is growing in Integrated Student Support (ISS) interventions, which offer schools systematic ways to reduce barriers to learning. The present study exploits the random component embedded within the school assignment system of a large urban school district to estimate the effect of schools providing ISS on student academic achievement at third, fourth, and fifth grade. The sample included students (N = 2,342) randomly assigned to schools—with or without ISS—via enrollment lottery. Students assigned to schools implementing ISS demonstrated higher achievement (from approximately .02% to more than 50% of a standard deviation) than those assigned to control schools. While we found some evidence for the efficacy of ISS by third grade, treatment effects were consistently largest and proved most robust across modeling strategies at fifth grade. The practical significance of these findings is discussed with attention to ongoing national efforts to improve the learning opportunities of economically disadvantaged students.

Research and practice that builds on family strengths is uniquely positioned to support children’s math learning in ecologically valid and culturally meaningful ways. Yet, there is little specificity as to what it means to take a strengths-based approach in early math research. We propose a conceptual framework for studying early math from a strengths perspective, as an extension of sociocultural theory and family funds of knowledge. We propose four construct domains critical to the study of strengths (family knowledge/skills, family routines, family interests, community knowledge) and two methodological considerations (participatory design, adaptability of resources). To demonstrate the framework as a tool for organizing cumulative knowledge, we classify exemplar strengths-based studies of early math (n = 11) according to the construct domains and methodology considerations. Our aims are to improve the specificity with which strengths-based perspectives in early math are operationalized and to provide a framework for evaluating literature and guiding future studies.

We estimated the effects of Norway's universal ECEC program-expanding access to 1- and 2-year-olds starting in the early 2000s-on standardized math and achievement tests in 5th grade (age 10) using a population-based survey sample (Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study, MoBa, n = 102,352), linked with national administrative records of child achievement test scores. We used two methods to test the effects of attending ECEC: fixed-effects and instrumental variable regressions. Although both approaches found small and mostly insignificant main effects, the effect of ECEC is consistently stronger for children from families with low parental education. The fixed-effects analyses showed that ECEC reduced inequalities in achievement across levels of parental education by about 10% while the instrumental variable analyses, using variation in ECEC induced by the expansion, showed reduction of about 50%. These results suggest that expanding access to ECEC for toddlers has the potential to reduce achievement inequality.

Scholars theorize that "opportunity gaps" drive achievement disparities between children born into poverty versus affluence. In a 26-year longitudinal study (N = 814), we examine (a) economic disparity in children's accumulation of opportunities-from birth through high school-at home, childcare, school, afterschool, and in the neighborhood; (b) the extent to which opportunity is linked with educational attainment and earnings in early adulthood; and (c) whether opportunity is most strongly associated with these adult outcomes for children from low-income households. We document large opportunity gaps between children from low- versus higher-income households. These opportunity gaps are strongly linked with educational attainment and earnings, particularly for low-income children, helping explain why household income in early childhood predicts these outcomes in adulthood.

This study examines the effect of an Integrated Student Support (ISS) intervention on postsecondary enrollment and completion for predominantly low-income students of color. We use propensity score weighting to estimate the effect of receiving ISS during elementary school on postsecondary outcomes for 2009-2017 high school graduates from a high-poverty urban district. Students who received ISS have higher probabilities of enrolling in and completing postsecondary education, and higher probabilities of enrolling in and graduating from four-year (versus two-year) institutions, than the comparison group. Together, results suggest ISS as an effective intervention to reduce barriers to postsecondary education and, thereby, to potentially reduce income- and race-based disparities in postsecondary outcomes.

Gender differences in early childhood development are under-researched in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where almost 90% of the world’s young children live. This study examines the direction, magnitude, and variation of gender similarities and differences in 3- and 4-year-olds’ early childhood development in 71 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Moreover, we explore whether country-level gender inequality correlates with gender differences in early development. We analyzed Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) data from UNICEF’s Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys and the Demographic and Health Surveys between 2010 and 2019 ( n = 226,980). Using logistic regression, we estimated children’s odds of being developmentally on track in literacy-numeracy, approaches to learning, social-emotional, and physical domains. We also used meta-analytic regression to examine associations between early childhood development and country-level indicators of gender inequality. In approximately one-half of LMICs, odds of being developmentally on track did not significantly differ for girls and boys; in countries with significant differences, girls were more likely to be on track than boys (odds ratio [OR] = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.18–1.24], p < .001). Differences favoring girls were largest in the social-emotional domain (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = [1.24–1.30], p < .001). Country-level gender development index explained a substantial amount of variation in gender differences across countries. Overall, findings suggest that when gender differences exist, girls are more likely than boys to be developmentally on track, particularly in the social-emotional domain and in countries with greater gender equality.

The family stress model has, for decades, guided empirical work linking poverty with increased risk of child social-emotional dysfunction. The present study extends this line of work by examining whether child negative emotionality moderates associations between family income, family stress (maternal distress, parental locus of control, and relationship dissatisfaction), and later externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. In a longitudinal population-based sample (n ~ 80,000) of Norwegian children followed from birth through age five (The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study; MoBa), we examined whether high (vs. moderate or low) negative emotionality families would display: (a) compounding stress (i.e., particularly strong associations between low family income and family stress), (b) diathesis-stress (i.e., particularly strong associations between family stress and behavior problems), or (c) double jeopardy (i.e., both compounding stress and diathesis-stress moderating effects). Negative emotionality significantly moderated the association between family income and behavior problems in a manner most consistent with double jeopardy . As a result, compared with children with moderate/low negative emotionality, the family income-behavior problems association was two to three times larger for those with higher negative emotionality. These findings underscore the active role children may play in family processes that link low family income with behavior problems.

We study a decade of achievement gaps for fifth-, eighth-, and 10th-grade students in Norway using administrative population data. Norway is a wealthy and egalitarian country with a homogeneous educational system, yet achievement gaps between students at the 90th and 10th percentiles of parental income and between students whose parents have at least a master and at most a high school degree are found to be large (0.55–0.93 and 0.70–0.99 SD), equivalent to about 2 to 2.5 years of schooling, and increasing by grade level. Achievement gaps by parental income, but not by parental education, increased over the time period, underscoring the different ways these two socioeconomic status components relate to achievement and the potential for policy to alter gaps.

The present study used an integrative theoretical model and a strengths-based conceptual framing to guide longitudinal analyses of how three early childhood contexts—home, early care and education (ECE), and neighborhood—were related to Black children's (n = 138) achievement from early childhood (54 months) through adolescence (15 years). We find that high-quality early childhood home environments were robustly predictive of high verbal and mathematics achievement through adolescence. For ECE, however, we found no significant associations, with few Black children experiencing sustained time in high-quality care. For neighborhoods, we found that Black children's achievement was highest in the least affluent neighborhoods and in racially-integrated neighborhoods with a moderate concentration of Black families. Implications for further study of Black children's developmental strengths are discussed.

Experimental research demonstrates sustained high-quality early care and education (ECE) can mitigate the consequences of poverty into adulthood. However, the long-term effects of community-based ECE are less known. Using the 1991 NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development ( n  = 994; 49.7% female; 73.6% White, 10.6% African American, 5.6% Latino, 10.2% Other), results show that ECE was associated with reduced disparities between low- and higher-income children's educational attainment and wages at age 26. Disparities in college graduation were reduced the more months that low-income children spent in ECE ( d  = .19). For wages, disparities were reduced when children from low-income families attended sustained high - quality ECE ( d  = .19). Findings suggest that community-based ECE is linked to meaningful educational and life outcomes, and sustained high-quality ECE is particularly important for children from lower-income backgrounds.

Using data from 12 studies, we meta-analyze correlations between parent number talk during interactions with their young children (mean sample age ranging from 22 to 79 months) and two aspects of family socioeconomics, parent education, and family income. Potential variations in correlation sizes as a function of study characteristics were explored. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between the amount of number talk in parent-child interactions and both parent education and family income (i.e., r = 0.12 for education and 0.14 for income). Exploratory moderator analyses provided some preliminary evidence that child age, as well as the average level of and variability in socioeconomic status, may moderate effect sizes. The implications of these findings are discussed with special attention to interpreting the practical importance of the effect sizes in light of family strengths and debate surrounding "word gaps".

Whether high quantities of center-based care cause behavior problems is a controversial question. Studies using covariate adjustment for selection factors have detected relations between center care and behavior problems, but studies with stronger internal validity less often find such evidence. We examined whether within-child changes in hours in center-based care predicted changes in externalizing problems in toddlers and preschoolers (N = 10,105; 49% female; data collection 1993-2012) in seven studies, including from Germany, Netherlands, Norway, two from Canada and two from the U.S. Race/ethnicity data were only collected in the United States (57% and 80% White; 42% and 13% African-American; 1.2% and 5% Latinx). Meta-analyses showed no association (r = .00, p = .88) between hours in center-based care and externalizing problems.

Objective To estimate the effect of children's age of entry into early childhood education and care (ECEC) on parenting quality of mothers and fathers in a context of universal access to subsidized ECEC following a 1 year paid parental leave. Background Children entering non-parental care settings in early childhood may have negative consequences for parenting quality. Yet, current evidence supporting this claim is predominantly from the United States, is focused almost exclusively on mothers, and is predominantly based on statistical approaches that are vulnerable to unobserved selection bias. Method Data are from a Norwegian longitudinal study, including ratings of observed mother-child (n = 901) and father-child (n = 621) interactions, and children's age of entry into ECEC. Multivariate regression models and instrumental variable models were used to estimate the causal effect of age of entry on parenting quality. Results There was no support for the hypothesis that an earlier age of entry into ECEC negatively affects parenting quality, for either fathers or mothers. This was true for the sample as a whole, and for different sociodemographic subgroups. Conclusion In a Norwegian context in which families have universal access to subsidized ECEC from the time their child is 1 year of age, and most children enter ECEC in their second year, there is no evidence that an earlier age of entry in ECEC harms parenting quality.

Evidence from a growing body of observational and experimental studies indicates that parent math talk is a key input supporting early mathematical thinking. Very little research, however, has been dedicated to understanding parenting or family correlates of math talk. In the present study, we examined relations between parents? number talk and their management language (i.e., the extent to which parents were controlling versus autonomy granting). Management language is predictive of children?s executive functioning and, thereby, may also be relevant to math learning. During semi-structured play interactions with their young children (n = 49), parents who engaged in more number talk also used more autonomy supportive management language than did parents who engaged in less number talk, and this association was strongest once controlling for children?s number talk. Our findings also provided preliminary evidence of variations in this association by parent education level: number talk and management language were more strongly associated for parents with less than a 4 year college degree than for those with a bachelor?s degree or higher.

We study a decade of achievement gaps 5th through 10th grade by parental income and education in Norway using administrative population data. Norway is a wealthy and egalitarian country with a homogeneous educational system, yet achievement gaps between students at the 90th and 10th percentiles of parental income and between students with parents who have at least a master and at most a high school degree are large (0.55-0.93 and 0.70-0.99 standard deviations, respectively), increasing by grade level. Gaps are equivalent to approximately 2-2.5 years of schooling. Income achievement gaps increased by about 10% of a standard deviation over the 11-year time period, whereas education achievement gaps remained stable. This suggests that the choice of socioeconomic indicator measure may explain why researchers disagree on trends in achievement gaps.