Poster #109 - Retrospective Parental Report of Occupational Pesticide Exposure in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start: Relations with Child Behavioral Functioning and Language

• In Event: Poster Session 10

Abstract

Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker (MSFW) families have elevated exposures to agricultural pesticides linked to neurodevelopmental problems (Roberts et al., 2012). Research has demonstrated that chemical evidence of organophosphate pesticides in children’s urinary metabolites are linked to problems with executive function (including attention, self-control, and self-regulation) (Sánchez Lizardi et al., 2008); behavioral functioning (including caregiver-reported attention, engagement, and persistence) (Marks et al., 2010) and language (Ribas Fito et al., 2006). However, limited evidence exists regarding whether these links persist when less precise measures of pesticide exposure, such as retrospective self-report of exposure and occupational risk are used. Collection of these types of measures are less expensive than biomedical data collection (Perry et al., 2006) but little is known about how well they reflect risk to children from parental pesticide exposure. Further, although behavioral functioning and language have been linked in the broader literature, little is known about how pesticide exposure interacts with language and behavioral competence, particularly in higher-risk populations such as children of MSFW.

This analysis uses secondary data from the 2017 Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Study (Caswell et al., 2017) to explore links between parental self-reported pesticide exposure, parental self-reported occupational risk (years of primary employment as pesticide applicator, range=0-32), and their children’s teacher ratings of behavioral competence and approaches to learning and standardized language assessments. 750 children ages were included in the study, and a sub-sample of 470 (Mage= 36.7 months) children with complete demographic information were used in these analyses. Fixed effects linear models were used to predict behavioral competence, as measured with the Brief Infant-Toddler Social-Emotional Assessment for children <24 months (BITSEA, Briggs-Gowan et al., 2004) and items from the Student Relationship Scale referred to as “Approaches to Learning” (ATL, Tourangeau et al., 2017) that index attention, engagement and task persistence were used for children 24 months of age and older. Fixed linear effects models were also used to predict home (Spanish) language skill, as measured with the McArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (IDHC; Jackson-Maldonado, 2003) for children less than 24 months of age and the Preschool Language Scales (PLS-5, Zimmerman et al., 2011) for children 24 months of age and older. Finally, sensitivity analyses were used to explore if child language moderated associations between pesticide exposure and child behavioral functioning. Demographic controls for parent education, child gender, family income-needs ratio, and family mobility were included in all models.

Results indicate that years of primary occupational pesticide exposure (mixing or applying pesticides as a primary occupation) but not exposure over the previous year, negatively predicted behavioral functioning (B=-.08, p=.04) but not language (B=.39, p=.55). Language did not moderate the relation between years of primary occupational pesticide exposure and behavioral functioning (B=.001, p=.11). Implications for early childhood programs’ and pediatric providers’ assessment of which caregivers may have high long-term occupational risk of agricultural pesticide exposure are discussed, including increased developmental surveillance for children at risk and guidance to caregivers regarding risk reduction measures (e.g., decontamination procedures before entering the home).

Authors

• Sarah Pedonti, Western Carolina University
  Presenting Author

• Derek Raymond Becker, Western Carolina University

• Cathy Lauren Grist, Western Carolina University