2-021 - Early Childhood Intervention and Adult Health: Main Effects and Mechanisms in Three Longitudinal Studies

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In recognition of the major role of social and educational determinants of health in disease prevention, Healthy People 2020 includes early and middle childhood as key contexts for policy and programming. This significant addition reflects the inherent connection between the school achievement gap and health disparities. Because of their demonstrated long-term effects on well-being, early childhood interventions are at the forefront of prevention programs for improving educational success and health outcomes.

This symposium session will investigate the impacts of high-quality early childhood preschool programs on adult health outcomes and generative mechanisms using data from three extensive longitudinal studies (Carolina Abecedarian Project, Child-Parent Centers, and HighScope Perry Preschool). Although they differ in geographic context, decade of implementation, and specific program elements, these research projects have measured a comprehensive set of education and health outcomes up to age 30 and beyond. Four sets of mechanisms have been identified that may account for the transmission of intervention effects. These are cognitive and emotional development, school performance and achievement, family engagement and parent involvement, and school and neighborhood context.
Three major questions will be addressed in each project: (a) Does participation in early childhood intervention reduce health compromising behaviors in adulthood?, (b) To what extent are intervention effects on health behaviors mediated by educational attainment?, and (c) Which specific processes and mediators contribute most to the observed main effects of early intervention on health behaviors?

Sub Unit

• Health, Growth, Injury

Chair

• Arthur Reynolds, University of Minnesota

Individual Presentations

• Adult Health and Education as Functions of the Abecedarian Early Childhood Program - Presenting Author: Frances A Campbell, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Elizabeth Puhn Pungello, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; YI PAN, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Developmental Pathways from Preschool to High School Completion and Early Adult Health Outcomes in the Context of Early Stressors - Presenting Author: Alison Sara Giovanelli, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Michelle M Englund, University of Minnesota; Suh-Ruu Ou, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Arthur Reynolds, University of Minnesota

• Effects of a Model Preschool on Participants’ Lifetime Education and Health - Presenting Author: Lawrence J. Schweinhart, HighScope Educational Research Foundation