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Risks and social and environmental factors in early development (Week 6)
Risks and social and environmental factors in early development
(Week 6)
Social economic deprivation
Defined at local super-output area levels (LSOAs) by neighbourhood characteristics (health, employment, average income)
Clearly related to "socio-economic-status" (SES) of occupants of area
SES defined by an individual's occupation (income) and level of education
Usually education and occupation linked but not always
often SES is associated with ethnicity (e.g. by reasons of imigration) - in mixed ethnicity areas normally lower income - but not necessarily lower education
England's most deprived 20% of LSOAs:
Just under hald of children live in families that are income deprived
Just over a third of adults are income deprived
One in five women and men are employment deprived
A third of old people are income deprived
The economic and social environments are very different
tend to live in more noisy, populated areas
having less money for books etc.
SES and educational outcomes:
Duncan et al. (1994)
parental poverty and low SES linked to poorer education outcomes for children
For some outcomes it is relative deprivation that may be critical, particularly in mixed urban environments (relative deprivation: not necessarily low income, but lower than surrounding people)
Duration of low income seems important
SES and cognitive differences:
Up to 10% of children enter school with problems with:
language
executive function
attention
emotional difficulties
social problems
Problems are highly over represented in low SES groups - 30%
Inequality in early cognitive development
Marmot et al. (2010)
Found that:
children at 22 months from low SES ended up having a low cognitive score at 10 years, even if their cognitive score was initially high.
children from high SES ended up with a high cognitive score at 10 years, no matter if initially had a low score or not
Specific neuro-cognitive outcomes
Farah et al. (2006)
Found direct relationship between income and problems with language, working memory, cognitive control and memory)
Review of evidence
Hackman and Farah (2008)
SES predicts language outcomes and executive function in preschool children
SES differences found in EEG for pre-school children and adolescents
Neural processing may differ even when behaviour looks the same
:warning: but uncertainties about causal mechanisms
SES outcomes in young infants
Tomalski et al. ... & Moore (2013)
Differences in Frontal EEg gamma power with income at 6-9 months in response to social and non social movies (frontal areas needed to bind and integrate information)
Developmental cascade
small early differences in one area could have large effects on other areas and levels (Psysical env.; biology; affect; cognition; behaviour; social env. - Moore's model)
SES: possible causes (pre- & post-natal risks
Parental stress in pregnancy and childhood
Alcohol and smoking in pregnancy
Drug taking in pregnancy
Poor diet in pregnancy
Noisy environments
Exposure to polution and toxins
Poor hygeine and overcrowding
Parental mental health problems
Poorer (social) engagement with children
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Direct effects
:
Poor diet (e.g. fatty acits) having direct effects on brain development
Indirect effects
:
low income and long hours leading to fewer books and less time for reading leading to poorer language development
Direct and Indirect effects:
poor income leading to poor language combined with higher stress levels with increased cortisol affecting brain reactivity
Risk factors
Malnutrition:
Stein et al. (1975)
long-term study during hunger winter in Holland
found high rates of low birth weight, spontaneous abortion, still birth, death at birth and malformation
Teratogens (poisons): Smoking
:
higher risk of stillbirth and death at birth
Bolton (1983)
if mothers give up smoking - higher birthweight
Scheutze et al. (2006)
-43 mother-infant dyads exposed to cigarettes, 41 dyads not-exposed
Mothers who smoked had higher levels of insensitivity and lower levels of maternal warmth
could be that smoking changes mother - child interactions
:!: could however also be that smokers are generally less sensitive and warm in the first place
Alcohol and FAS
babies of mothers who are heavy drinkers (5+ units of alcohol/day) in first trimester have 30% change of Foetal Alcohol Syndeome (small head, brain abnormalities - lack of convolutions, eye abnormalities, congenital heart disease, abnormalities of face and joints
Other drugs:
Heroin produces addiction in baby, medical complications e.g. anemia, cardiac disease and increases risk of miscarriage or premature birth
Cocaine increases risk of miscarriage or premature birth and babies are likely to be irritable, jittery and have disrupted sleep patterns
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Prenatal pathways - drugs, toxins, stress etc.
Peri-natal pathways - early parenting, stress etc.
Childhood - parenting, emotional ractivity, language environment etc.
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Prematurity:
nromal gestational period is 37 - 43 weeks
babies born before week 37 are premature
more likely if: multiple birth; close multiple pregnancies; mother smokes; mother malnourished
most serious consequences for babies of low birth weight (<2500gm)
Impacting auditory processes
Fellman et al. (2004
)
can't distinguish between certain sounds
MDMA consume during pregnancy
Singer, Moore.. et al. (2012)
-mostly affecting motor development
Indirect effects
-sleep disorders
depressed mood
persistent elevation of anxiety
impulsivity and hostility
Verheyden et al. (2002
)
Withdrawal
females - report mid-week depression
males - prone to aggression
Developmental approach
need to understand why and how causes operate
Different sensitive periods of post natal development
Exposure to risk factors at different points in pregnancy will have different effects on neural development
Establishing causes is not straightforward
Huiizink & Mulder (2006)
Drug use often combined with:
Low income
Poor nutrition
Poor home environment
Differences in maternal behaviour
Stress :!!: - models on stress in slides!
Evidence of intergenerational effects and epigenetics
Environmental inheritance
Hereditary alleles
Parenting styles
The epigenome - inheriting parent's experience via methylation patterns (which can be changed)
-- Methyl can stop genes from expressing themselves (turning them on and off)
Outcomes might be at many levels
Genetic effects (e.g. Methylation of genes/epigenetics; Transcription errors etc.)
Physical outcomes (e.g. low birthweight; physical abnormalities; etc.)
Neurological outcomes (e.g. frontal functioning; HPA axis; etc.)
Cognitive outcomes (e.g. executive functioning; language; etc.)
Behavioural outcomes (e.g. Inattention and disinhibition; poor motor coordination; less articulate; etc.)
Interventions
Working out how to change epigenome
Reducing prenatal environmental risk factors
Reducing exposure to stress in pregnancy
Intervention on parenting mother-infant
Early screening for outcomes
Targeted intervention for executive functions
.
:!!:The later the intervention the more effective
:red_flag: Have to develop early screening methods and early intervention methods to be most effective in targeting risk factors !!!!!
Not like at the moment, where there is more investment in treatment options the older a child gets (where less can actually be changed)
