Promoting Resilience: A Preschool Intervention Enhances the Adolescent Adjustment of Children Exposed to Early Adversity

• In Event: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Child Outcomes in School Settings: Implications for Development, Intervention, and Pedagogy

Abstract

Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may increase children’s vulnerability to social-emotional distress and school adjustment difficulties by disrupting the development of the physiological systems that regulate adaptive stress responding (Blair & Raver, 2012; Evans & Kim) or by impacting parenting and parent-child relationships. This may predispose youth to view the world as unsafe and unpredictable and compromise their ability to adaptively handle stressors (Breslau et al. 2014; McElroy & Hevey, 2014). Early interventions that improve socialization supports and promote social-emotional and self-regulatory skills may help address the needs of children growing up in risky environments (Blaustein & Kinniburgh, 2018).
This study tested two hypotheses. First, we postulated that ACEs experienced in early childhood may create vulnerability for adolescent social-emotional distress associated with transitions into middle and high school (Bethell, Newacheck, Hawes, & Halfon, 2014; Simmons & Blythe, 2017). Normatively, this is a transitional period marked by concerns about social acceptance and decreases in school bonding which could be amplified by early ACEs. Second, we hypothesized that participation in a preschool social-emotional learning intervention would promote coping skills and enhance resilience, diminishing the negative effects of early ACEs exposure on adolescent adjustment.
Two hundred ninety-four children from low-income families (58% White, 17% Latinx, 25% Black; 54% girls; Mage = 4.49 years old at study entry; $15,000 median annual income) were recruited from 44 Head Start classrooms in Pennsylvania to participate in the REDI (Research-based, Developmentally Informed) preschool intervention and then followed longitudinally for 10 years through ninth grade. The REDI classroom program (Bierman et al., 2008) promoted social-emotional learning and language skills with teacher-delivered interventions (Domitrovich, Cortes, & Greenberg, 2007; Wasik, Bond, & Hindman, 2006). At study entry, parents reported on their children’s exposure to ACEs. In seventh and ninth grades, youth reported on their feelings of social-emotional distress and school bonding using several different measures. Adolescent measures were submitted to multilevel latent profile analyses revealing three profiles of adolescent distress and school bonding.
Confirming hypothesis 1, high ACEs in early childhood predicted membership in adolescent profiles characterized by heightened social-emotional distress and reduced levels of school bonding. Confirming hypothesis 2, the REDI intervention moderated the impact of early ACEs and conveyed protection for children with high levels of ACEs exposure, reducing the prevalence of social-emotional distress and weak school bonding experienced in adolescence (see Table 1, Figure 1a-b). In addition, follow-up analyses currently underway will examine potential mechanisms of action by which REDI conferred resilience by high school. We will consider several elementary- and middle-school pathways that have been implicated in developmental research to assess how the increased social-emotional supports in preschool may have initiated a developmental cascade that promoted more positive adjustment in adolescence.
In summary, the REDI intervention promoted youth resilience, significantly buffering children from the negative impact of early ACEs. This study shows that investing in early social-emotional interventions such as REDI can positively impact the lives of children and ameliorate negative consequences of growing up in adversity.

Authors

• Michael Thomas Sanders, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Janet A Welsh, Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karen L Bierman, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brenda S Heinrichs, Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author