PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
In the United States, children’s development differs markedly as a function of their family’s socioeconomic status
(SES). Some of the most pronounced and consequential SES disparities are in language and cognitive
development, which are evident as early as two years of age and, by kindergarten entry, predict with depressing
accuracy children’s long-term academic trajectories. Yet while social science has identified a variety of structural,
contextual, and psychological factors that contribute to disparities in child development, we have limited
understanding of how these factors “get under the skin” to influence biological processes that are proximally
involved in brain maturation and shape key developmental outcomes. This proposal integrates approaches to
understanding developmental disparities from the biological and psychological sciences. Theorists in the
biological sciences have proposed that disadvantage gets biologically embedded during gestation, in part via
immune responses to stress that result in “adverse gestational environments” (AGEs). Animal studies have
confirmed that stressful exposures can contribute to adverse gestational environments and to subsequent
oxidative neuronal injury and impaired development, yet human studies have yet to examine whether AGEs are
associated with socioeconomic disparities in language and cognition. We leverage an existing NIH-funded study
of disparities in perinatal outcomes, where in-depth assessments of SES and the gestational environment are
being performed in 600 pregnant individuals from diverse backgrounds. We will follow children born to these
individuals, collecting measures of cognitive and language development during the infant-toddler period as well
as preschool outcomes at age 5 years. Aim 1 will determine if adverse gestational environments resulting from
maternal stress mediate socioeconomic disparities in child language and cognitive development. Aim 2 will
deepen understanding into the placental characteristics of adverse gestational environments that are associated
with lower language and cognitive development. Aim 3 will examine the combined contributions of AGEs and
postnatal caregiving environments in predicting language and cognitive development. Across these aims, we
utilize state-of-the-art methods from the social, behavioral, and biological sciences, and adopt a culturally and
linguistically responsive approach to assessment of child language and cognitive development. This study will
answer key questions about the origins of SES disparities in language and cognitive development that have
important implications for theory, policy, and practice.
