| Poster | Poster Session 05 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes
Final Abstract #8
Early childhood and social vulnerability: socioemotional skills as mediators of behavior problems
Nara Andrade, Juiz de Fora Federal University, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
Vinicius David, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Clara Oliveira, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
Flávia Ozaki, Santa Izabel Hospital, Salvador, Brazil
Izabel Hazin, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
Category: Emotional and Social Processes
Keyword 1: social processes
Keyword 2: brain development
Keyword 3: child development (normal)
Objective:
Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to childhood adversity may cause powerful and long-lasting consequences on a child’s development. Childhood adversity comprises negative environmental experiences that demand great adaptation from an average child, such as parental absence and exposure to violence, and is associated with many forms of psychopathology in all stages of life. Research in cognitive neuroscience indicates that poverty affects brain development in a way that compromises future learning and the development of social and emotional skills. Nonetheless, socioemotional skills are relevant to one’s adaptive and may contribute to a healthy relationship with their context. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediation effects of emotion knowledge (EK) and emotion regulation (ER) on the relationship between contexts of adversity and behavior problems (BP).
Participants and Methods:
Participants were 373 children aged 3 to 6 years (M = 4.55; SD = 1.52), 52.4% girls, from three Brazilian states. Prospective data was collected using validated psychological tests for children and standardized questionnaires for parents and teachers, such as: Emotion Regulation Checklist; Emotion Matching Task or Child Behavior Checklist. Children's assessments were applied in a controlled situation, conducted individually, in a silent room, and previously structured for the investigation.
Results:
Results indicated that socioeconomic status (SES) directly affected the total prevalence of BP (β = -0.65, p<0.01). Both SES and maternal schooling had effects mediated by EK and ER subdomains. Maternal schooling had an effect over behavior problems only when mediated by emotion situation knowledge (ESK) (β = -0.87, p<0.05). Predictors and mediators for externalizing and internalizing BP differed from each other. Maternal schooling was exogenous variables that had direct effects over internalizing problems (β = -2.63, p<0.01) and externalizing Behavior (β = -1.37, p<0.01). The SES (β = 0.02, p<0.05), type of school (β = 0.45, p<0.05, public being higher) had their effects over internalizing behavior problems mediated by ER. Lastly, maternal schooling (β = -0.25, p<0.05) also had effects over externalizing problems mediated by ESK.
Conclusions:
Understanding neurodevelopmental protective factors is relevant, especially in contexts of adversity and vulnerability. Furthermore, knowledge about the emotional mechanisms involved in the impact of adversity on children's mental health is relevant as it enables the development of more specific and effective interventions. This study addresses the relevance of mediation analysis for understanding behavioral outcomes and the importance of promoting socioemotional skills in early childhood. Thus, this study contributes to the scope of investigations that seek to understand the relationship between adversity, poverty, SES, and behavior problems in childhood. Additionally, it points to the importance of socioemotional, more specifically ESK and ER, as protective and risk factors to neurodevelopment. Finally, this study supports the relevance of socioemotional stimulation curricula in early childhood, especially for children in situations of social vulnerability, as a way to prevent negative mental health outcomes and to develop emotional and social health in childhood.
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