Poster #61 - Exploring children’s cognitive development through the home environment and maternal well-being in Syrian refugee families

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

Since 2011, Syrian families have experienced countless traumas and the pervasive threat of instability in their home country. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has burdened millions of families with political strife, economic challenges, and personal distress. Excessive exposure to the myriad of humanitarian crises positions children at risk for chronic developmental delays through various mechanisms, such as an unstable home learning environment (HLE). The HLE serves as the proximal context in which children's skills develop. Still, given the ambiguity of "home" for asylum seekers, it is imperative to identify which mechanisms explain the relationship between HLE and critical early childhood outcomes (i.e., psychosocial functioning, EF, and SEL skills). Various risk and protective factors, such as parental well-being, may buffer or worsen the adverse effects of living in refuge. Therefore, we examine the mechanistic pathway of the HLE on child cognitive development through a multidimensional construct of maternal well-being (see Figure 1.)However, despite the extant support for parental well-being and child development, little is known about which dimensions of well-being are most pivotal for children's cognitive development, particularly for refugee families. Working in collaboration with an NGO, We Love Reading, we utilized a community-based participatory method essential for ensuring culturally appropriate practices. We explored the feasibility of physiological data collection approaches in vulnerable populations and self-reports of maternal depressive symptoms and family stress processes. Currently, there is limited evidence supporting the relationship between maternal physiological and psychological functioning, particularly regarding child development. Our study contributes to the literature in two ways. We determine which facets of well-being exert a more substantial influence on child development, as well as contribute to humanitarian relief efforts by identifying context-specific mechanisms necessary for intervention development. The present study is a part of a larger ongoing project in collaboration with NGO; We Love Reading (WLR) in Jordan. The targeted sample includes preschool-aged n=120 mother-child Syrian refugee dyads. The current analysis includes n=29 dyads (48.3% male; Mage=34.62 months, SD=3.70).With the entire sample, we will explore to what extent demographic characteristics (i.e., age, sex, SES), HLE, mother self-reported well-being, and mother physiological well-being predict child developmental outcomes. The STIM-Q Preschool measured the HLE (Dreyer et al., 1996). Mother's self-reported well-being was measured using the Arabic version of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (depressive symptoms; Al-Amer et al., 2020; Al-Hadi et al., 2017) and the translated parenting stress items from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (Cooper et al., 2009). Child developmental outcomes were assessed using the Arabic parent-report version of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (Alyahri & Goodman, 2006), Day/Night Stroop Task (Gerstadt et al., 1994), and Affect Knowledge Test (Denham, 1986). Our preliminary analysis (n=29) found no correlation between self-reported psychological maternal well-being and physiological well-being, which supports our hypothesis that there are separate dimensions of maternal well-being. This is a work-in-progress, and we anticipate the data analyses to be completed by the time of the biennial meeting.

Authors

• Tessa McNaboe, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Antje von Suchodoletz, New York University Abu Dhabi

• Selcuk R. Sirin, New York University

• Ruyam Canan Tugberk, New York University

• Rana Dajani, Hashemite University