Biopsychosocial Predictors of Social Emotional Functioning in Children of Mothers with and without Low Intellectual Functioning
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Advisor
Wendy Zeitlin
Access Type
Event
Start Date
26-4-2024 12:45 PM
End Date
26-4-2024 1:44 PM
Description
Background: Mothers with low intellectual functioning are more likely than mothers with higher intellectual functioning to experience conditions such as lower educational attainment and poverty that are related to poor social-emotional functioning in their children. This study aims to explore whether social-emotional functioning in children is better explained by parental intellectual impairment, environmental contributors, or a combination of these Method: Data for this study comes from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to identify community, family, and parental factors predictive of children’s social-emotional well-being at age 5. Outcomes included dimensions of the Child Behavior Checklist and the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory. Post-hoc analysis explored the predicted probabilities of each outcome while controlling for ID status and poverty. Results: Low maternal intellectual functioning was predictive of lower functioning for positive behavior, and higher anxiety/depression, attention problems, social problems, and withdrawn behavior. In additional analysis, low maternal intellectual functioning was significantly worse for positive behavior, anxiety/depression, and withdrawn behavior when accounting for family poverty. Differences in social and attention problems were better explained by poverty status. Conclusions: Children age 5 whose mothers have low intellectual functioning are at risk for worse social-emotional well-being compared to children whose mothers have higher intellectual functioning. As this population enters Kindergarten, there is an opportunity for schools and other community-based organizations to identify and support these children. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.
Biopsychosocial Predictors of Social Emotional Functioning in Children of Mothers with and without Low Intellectual Functioning
Background: Mothers with low intellectual functioning are more likely than mothers with higher intellectual functioning to experience conditions such as lower educational attainment and poverty that are related to poor social-emotional functioning in their children. This study aims to explore whether social-emotional functioning in children is better explained by parental intellectual impairment, environmental contributors, or a combination of these Method: Data for this study comes from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to identify community, family, and parental factors predictive of children’s social-emotional well-being at age 5. Outcomes included dimensions of the Child Behavior Checklist and the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory. Post-hoc analysis explored the predicted probabilities of each outcome while controlling for ID status and poverty. Results: Low maternal intellectual functioning was predictive of lower functioning for positive behavior, and higher anxiety/depression, attention problems, social problems, and withdrawn behavior. In additional analysis, low maternal intellectual functioning was significantly worse for positive behavior, anxiety/depression, and withdrawn behavior when accounting for family poverty. Differences in social and attention problems were better explained by poverty status. Conclusions: Children age 5 whose mothers have low intellectual functioning are at risk for worse social-emotional well-being compared to children whose mothers have higher intellectual functioning. As this population enters Kindergarten, there is an opportunity for schools and other community-based organizations to identify and support these children. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.