Adverse childhood experiences and children's development in early care and education programs
Introduction
As many as one in four preschool-aged children experience adverse or traumatic events (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, & Hamby, 2009; Jimenez, Wade, Lin, Morrow, & Reichman, 2016). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as maltreatment, exposure to violence, and/or substance abuse in the household, impact children's developing neurobiology (Fisher et al., 2016). Studies conducted with older children in schools (e.g., Blodgett & Lanigan, 2018) and homes (McKelvey, Edge, Mesman, Whiteside-Mansell, & Bradley, 2018) point to associations between children's ACEs and their behavior and learning. Some of these challenges may be ameliorated with early interventions to boost sensitive, responsive caregiving (Bruce, Gunnar, Pears, & Fisher, 2013; Fisher et al., 2016), which is a central protective factor that can help mitigate negative impacts of adversity (Masten, 2018).
Quality early care and education (ECE) programs offer a context for protective factors to support positive development among young children with ACEs (Dinehart, Manfra, Katz, & Hartman, 2012; Lipscomb, Pratt, Schmitt, Pears, & Kim, 2013). Yet, effects of ACEs on behavior and development may pose challenges for children, their peers, and their ECE teachers. Little is yet known about how children's ACEs play out in dynamics within ECE programs. However, findings from the National Survey of Children's Health highlight challenges; children's ACEs were linked with an increased odds of being suspended or expelled from preschool (Zeng, Corr, O'Grady, & Guan, 2019). Strengthening resilience with young children impacted by adversity requires deeper knowledge of their experiences in ECE. The current study advances this line of inquiry by examining associations between ACEs and preschool-aged children's observed engagement in ECE, teachers' reports of their social skills and behavioral problems, and direct assessments of self-regulation and early academic skills. This study aims to not only identify areas of concern but also aspects of development thus far unaffected by ACEs, which may represent strengths that ECE teachers can leverage to help children build resilience.
Section snippets
Adverse childhood experiences
Research on ACEs has most commonly examined indicators of abuse and neglect (physical, psychological, sexual) and experiences termed “household dysfunction” (intimate partner violence, household member with mental illness or suicidal, household member with substance abuse, incarcerated household member; divorce is often also included; Bethell et al., 2017; Felitti et al., 1998). These ACEs have been linked with a wide array of physical and mental health problems and behaviors in adulthood (Dube
Early care and education as a developmental context
Early childhood teachers and care providers encounter children impacted by ACEs in wide variety of ECE programs (home- and center-based child care, preschool, and Head Start). A recent analysis of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study found that more than 50% of three-year old children attending home- and center-based ECE programs already had at least one ACE; 12% had three or more (Lipscomb, Goka-Dubose, Hur, & Henry, 2019). These rates are likely to increase, as the U.S.
Children's engagement in ECE programs
Within ECE programs, individual children have varied experiences (Chaparro-Moreno, Justice, Logan, Purtell, & Lin, 2019; Williford, Maier, Downer, Pianta, & Howes, 2013), even in a high-quality classroom (Jeon et al., 2010; Vitiello & Williford, 2020). Children's engagement is one indication of such differences that may be particularly important to understand in relation to early adversity. Children demonstrate variability (Williford, Vick Whittaker, Vitiello, & Downer, 2013) in classroom
School readiness skills and behaviors in ECE
In addition to engagement, children's experiences of adversity may also affect their early school readiness skills in ECE settings. School readiness is multifaceted and includes academic, self-regulatory, and socioemotional skills (Cooper, Moore, Powers, Cleveland, & Greenberg, 2014; Pan, Trang, Love, & Templin, 2019). Understanding these processes may help early childhood teachers nurture resilience, especially given that children's self-regulatory, social, and academic skills can act as
Current study
The current study expands research on ACEs and development by examining effects of ACEs on preschool-aged children's engagement, behavior, and skills in the context of their ECE programs. Based on prior research linking ACEs with behavioral, developmental and academic challenges among older children (Blodgett & Lanigan, 2018; Hunt et al., 2017; Jimenez et al., 2016; McKelvey et al., 2018), and/or with developmental delays or clinical-levels of behavior problems with preschool-aged children (
Participants
Ninety-two children within 17 ECE programs participated in this study. The types of programs they attended included: 24% home-based care, 35% center-based care (non Head Start), and 41% Head Start. Children attended these programs for an average of 27.4 h per week (SD = 14.9). Children were identified by their parents as 55% female, 45% male, 0% non-binary. They were 4.10 years of age, on average (SD = 0.67), with a range from 2.60 to 5.20 years; five children were between the ages of 2.60 and
Procedures
Data for this study come from an evaluation of a professional development program for early childhood teachers to promote resilience with children impacted by trauma. A wide variety of licensed home-based and center-based (including Head Start) ECE programs were invited to participate, and then teachers were recruited from these programs. ECE programs and teachers opted into the study because of their interest in the program, but all data for this analysis were collected at baseline, prior to
Adverse childhood experiences
Parents completed the Center for Youth Wellness ACE-Questionnaire (CYW ACE-Q Child; Bucci et al., 2015) to assess child total ACEs. The CYW ACE-Q includes two parts. In ACEs-Conventional (ACES-C), parents/ guardians indicate the number of ACEs (range 0–10) that apply to their child since birth including: parental separation or divorce, parental incarceration, mental illness of a household member, domestic violence, physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, substance abuse by someone
Data analysis
Multilevel level modeling (MLM) was conducted to account for the hierarchical nature of the data where children (level 1) were nested within classrooms/program (level 2); the average number of children per classroom/program was 3.5. Intraclass correlation coefficients were as follows: children's positive engagement with teachers = 0.01, positive engagement with peers = 0.01, task orientation = 0.04, and negative engagement ≤0.01, social skills = 0.14, externalizing behavior problems = 0.09,
Preliminary results
Preliminary analysis revealed that the majority (56%) of the preschool-aged children in the current study had experienced at least one ACE (on either part C or E): 39.5% had no ACEs, 16.5% had 1 ACE, 11% had 2 ACEs, and 33% had 3 or more ACEs. When examining ACEs-Conventional only, the rates were: 40% with 0, 20% with 1, 11% with 2, and 28% with 3 or more. Rates of ACEs-Extended were: 78% with 0, 14% with 1, 4% with 2 ACEs, and 0% with 3 or more ACEs. Table 1 shows correlations among key study
Discussion
Recent evidence points to associations between ACEs and clinically-relevant behavioral challenges, developmental delays, and/or academic failures during childhood and adolescence (Blodgett & Lanigan, 2018; Hunt et al., 2017; Jimenez et al., 2016; Marie-Mitchell & O'Connor, 2013; McKelvey et al., 2018). The current study aimed to identify early indications of these challenges exhibited in children's engagement with teachers, peers, and tasks in ECE, as well as in teachers' impressions of their
Strengths and limitations
The current study provides an important foundation for further study of early development, behavior, and engagement among young children impacted by ACEs. The study of preschool-aged children attending a wide variety of early learning programs is an important advancement from prior research that has typically focused on center-based, or even specifically Head Start, programs. Several key strengths of the measurements employed in this study are also noteworthy. By conducting systematic
Conclusions and implications
Findings from the current study suggest that young children who have experienced more adversity by the time they are ages 3–5 years exhibit more negative engagement (less behavioral control, more conflict with peers and teachers) in their early child care and preschool programs, while accounting for socio-economic disadvantage and other factors. This was a consistent finding, regardless of whether ACEs-C and E were considered together or separately; additional effects of the extended ACEs index
Declaration of Competing Interest
none.
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