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While socioeconomic disparities in the home language environment have been well established, the mechanisms explaining these disparities are poorly understood. One plausible mechanism is heightened stress. The current study investigated whether maternal perceived stress was 1) associated with measures of the home language environment, and 2) mediated the relation between socioeconomic disparities and the home language environment. Data from three independent studies were analyzed, which together comprised 322 mother-child dyads. Two studies included mothers and their six- to twelve-month-old infants (N = 227). The third included mothers and their five- to nine-year-old children (N = 95). Mothers reported their educational attainment, income, and stress. Language Environment Analysis (LENA) measured the home language environment. As has been previously reported, socioeconomic disparities were observed in adult words and conversational turns. Stress did not mediate these associations, nor was it associated with adult words or conversational turns. Alternate mechanisms for future exploration are discussed.

We investigated how exogenous variation in exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic during the first year of life is related to infant development, maternal mental health, and perceived stress. Ninety-three socioeconomically diverse pregnant women were recruited before the pandemic to participate in a longitudinal study. Infants ranged in age at the beginning of lockdown (0-9.5 months old), thus experiencing different durations of pandemic exposure across the first year of life. The duration of pandemic exposure was not associated with family demographic characteristics, suggesting it captured exogenous variability. We tested associations between this exogenous variation in pandemic exposure and child and family outcomes. We also examined whether mother-reported disruptive life events were correlated with child and family outcomes. We found no association between duration of pandemic exposure in the first year of life and infant socioemotional problems, infant language development, or maternal mental health and perceived stress symptoms, at 12 or 24 months. However, we found that self-reported exposure to pandemic-related disruptive life events predicted greater maternal depression, anxiety, and perceived stress at 12 months, and greater depression and anxiety at 24 months. Socioeconomic status did not moderate these associations. These findings suggest cautious optimism for infants raised during this period.

IMPORTANCE: Children experiencing poverty are more likely to experience worse health outcomes during the first few years of life, including injury, chronic illness, worse nutrition, and poorer sleep. The extent to which a poverty reduction intervention improves children’s health, nutrition, sleep, and healthcare utilization is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of a 3-year, monthly unconditional cash transfer on health, nutrition, sleep, and healthcare utilization of children experiencing poverty who are healthy at birth. DESIGN: Longitudinal randomized control trial SETTING: Mother-infant dyads were recruited from postpartum wards in 12 hospitals in four cities across the U.S. PARTICIPANTS: 1,000 mothers were enrolled in the study. Eligibility criteria included: an annual income below the federal poverty line, being of legal age for consent, speaking English or Spanish, residing in the state of recruitment, and having an infant admitted to the well-baby nursery with plans to be discharged to the custody of the mother. INTERVENTION: Mothers were randomly assigned to receive either a high-cash gift ($333 per month, or $3,996 per year; n =400) or a low-cash gift ($20 per month, or $240 per year; n =600) for the first several years of their child’s life. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Pre-registered maternal assessments of the focal child’s health, nutrition, sleep, and healthcare utilization were collected at children’s ages 1, 2, and 3. RESULTS: Enrolled participants were majority Black (42%) and Hispanic (41%). 857 mothers participated in all three waves of data collection. We found no statistically detectable differences between the high-cash and low-cash gift groups in maternal assessments of children’s overall health, sleep, or healthcare utilization. However, mothers in the high-cash gift group reported higher child consumption of fresh produce compared with mothers in the low-cash gift group at age 2, the only time point it was measured ( β= 0.17, SE=0.07, p =0.03). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this RCT, unconditional cash transfers to mothers experiencing poverty did not improve their reports of their child’s health, sleep, or healthcare utilization. However, stable income support of this magnitude improved toddler’s consumption of fresh produce. Healthy newborns tend to grow into healthy toddlers, and the impacts of poverty reduction on children’s health and sleep may not be fully borne out until later in life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Baby’s First Years (BFY; ID NCT03593356 ) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03593356?term=NCT03593356&draw=2&rank=1 KEY POINTS: QUESTION: Does poverty reduction improve health, nutrition, and sleep in young children? FINDINGS: In this RCT of 1,000 mother-child dyads experiencing poverty, a monthly unconditional cash transfer did not improve children’s health or sleep in the first three years of life. However, the cash transfers led to increased consumption of fresh produce. MEANING: Among children experiencing poverty, a monthly cash gift affected healthy food intake, but not health or sleep. Most children had few health problems, though emergent medical care use was high.

Disrupted sleep has been consistently linked with lower academic achievement and worse mental health in children. Less is understood about sleep as a potential factor underlying socioeconomic differences in brain morphometry in children. The goals of this study were to investigate the associations among socioeconomic factors, sleep duration, and brain morphometry in children, and to examine the roles of the sleep environment and family routines in these associations.Participants were 5- to 9-year-old children from socioeconomically diverse families (N = 94; 61% female). Parents reported on children's weekday and weekend sleep durations, sleep environment, and family routines. High-resolution, T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were acquired. Analyses focused on cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and amygdala and hippocampal volume.Results indicated that lower family income-to-needs ratio and parental education were significantly associated with shorter weekday sleep duration in children. Shorter weekday sleep duration was significantly associated with reduced thickness in the left middle temporal, right postcentral, and right superior frontal cortices and smaller basolateral but not centromedial amygdala volume. Family routines significantly mediated the associations of family income-to-needs ratio and parental education with weekday sleep duration in children.These results contribute to our understanding of sleep factors as proximal mechanisms through which socioeconomic context may alter neural development during childhood.

ImportanceAssociations between prenatal SARS-CoV-2 exposure and neurodevelopmental outcomes have substantial public health relevance. A previous study found no association between prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection and parent-reported infant neurodevelopmental outcomes, but standardized observational assessments are needed to confirm this finding.ObjectiveTo assess whether mild or asymptomatic maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection vs no infection during pregnancy is associated with infant neurodevelopmental differences at ages 5 to 11 months.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cohort study included infants of mothers from a single-site prospective cross-sectional study (COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes [COMBO] Initiative) of mother-infant dyads and a multisite prospective cohort study (Epidemiology of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Pregnancy and Infancy [ESPI]) of pregnant individuals. A subset of ESPI participants was subsequently enrolled in the ESPI COMBO substudy. Participants in the ongoing COMBO study were enrolled beginning on May 26, 2020; participants in the ESPI study were enrolled from May 7 to November 3, 2021; and participants in the ESPI COMBO substudy were enrolled from August 2020 to March 2021. For the current analysis, infant neurodevelopment was assessed between March 2021 and June 2022. A total of 407 infants born to 403 mothers were enrolled (204 from Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, New York; 167 from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City; and 36 from the University of Alabama in Birmingham). Mothers of unexposed infants were approached for participation based on similar infant gestational age at birth, date of birth, sex, and mode of delivery to exposed infants.ExposuresMaternal symptomatic or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.Main Outcomes and MeasuresInfant neurodevelopment was assessed using the Developmental Assessment of Young Children, second edition (DAYC-2), adapted for telehealth assessment. The primary outcome was age-adjusted standard scores on 5 DAYC-2 subdomains: cognitive, gross motor, fine motor, expressive language, and receptive language.ResultsAmong 403 mothers, the mean (SD) maternal age at delivery was 32.1 (5.4) years; most mothers were of White race (240 [59.6%]) and non-Hispanic ethnicity (253 [62.8%]). Among 407 infants, 367 (90.2%) were born full term and 212 (52.1%) were male. Overall, 258 infants (63.4%) had no documented prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection, 112 (27.5%) had confirmed prenatal exposure, and 37 (9.1%) had exposure before pregnancy or at an indeterminate time. In adjusted models, maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy was not associated with differences in cognitive (β = 0.31; 95% CI, −2.97 to 3.58), gross motor (β = 0.82; 95% CI, −1.34 to 2.99), fine motor (β = 0.36; 95% CI, −0.74 to 1.47), expressive language (β = −1.00; 95% CI, −4.02 to 2.02), or receptive language (β = 0.45; 95% CI, −2.15 to 3.04) DAYC-2 subdomain scores. Trimester of exposure and maternal symptom status were not associated with DAYC-2 subdomain scores.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this study, results of a novel telehealth-adapted observational neurodevelopmental assessment extended a previous finding of no association between prenatal exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection and infant neurodevelopment. Given the widespread and continued high prevalence of COVID-19, these data offer information that may be helpful for pregnant individuals who experience asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) has far-reaching linkages with children's cognitive and socioemotional development, academic achievement, health, and brain structure and function. Rather than focusing on understandings about the neuroscience of socioeconomic inequality that have recently been reviewed elsewhere, the present article reviews several new directions in the field, beginning first with a consideration of the deficit versus adaptation framework. Although scientists largely agree that socioeconomic disparities in brain development are experience-dependent phenomena rooted in neuroplasticity, historically, such differences have been framed as deficits, which may benefit from intervention. However, emerging research suggests that some developmental differences among children experiencing adversity may alternatively be considered context-appropriate adaptations to the individual's environment. We next discuss how socioeconomic circumstances are inextricably intertwined with race, and consider how measurement of racism and discrimination must be part of a full understanding of the neuroscience of socioeconomic inequality. We argue that scientists must consciously recruit racially and socioeconomically diverse samples-and include measures of SES, race, and discrimination in analyses-to promote a more complete understanding of the neuroplasticity specifically, and psychological science more broadly. We discuss the extent to which researcher and editor positionality have contributed to these problems historically, and conclude by considering paths forward. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Stress has been linked with children’s socioemotional problems and lower language scores, particularly among children raised in socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances. Much of the work examining the relations among stress, language, and socioemotional functioning have relied on assessments of a single dimension of maternal stress. However, stress can stem from different sources, and people may appraise stressors differently. Taking a dimensional approach, this manuscript characterizes stress in multiple ways: as an overall composite; across the constructs of psychological appraisal vs. environmental stressors; and the independent contributions of a variety assessments. Data are from 548 mother–infant dyads (M = 13.14 months, SD = 2.11) who served as the control group for a poverty reduction clinical trial. Mothers completed questionnaires regarding the different types of stresses they may have experienced, as well as their children’s language and socioemotional development. Results indicate that, collectively, higher maternal report of stress is associated with lower reports of children’s socioemotional and language development. In addition, maternal psychological appraisals of stress were associated with both socioemotional and language development, whereas reports of environmental stressors were only associated with socioemotional development. Together, these findings suggest that maternal reports of stress are associated with lower maternal report of child development among low-income children.

Early childhood poverty is a risk factor for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health, and has been associated with differences in brain structure and function. Whether poverty causes differences in neurodevelopment, or is merely associated with factors that cause such differences, remains unclear. Here, we report estimates of the causal impact of a poverty reduction intervention on brain activity in the first year of life. We draw data from a subsample of the Baby's First Years study, which recruited 1,000 diverse low-income mother-infant dyads. Shortly after giving birth, mothers were randomized to receive either a large or nominal monthly unconditional cash gift. Infant brain activity was assessed at approximately 1 y of age in the child's home, using resting electroencephalography (EEG; n = 435). We hypothesized that infants in the high-cash gift group would have greater EEG power in the mid- to high-frequency bands and reduced power in a low-frequency band compared with infants in the low-cash gift group. Indeed, infants in the high-cash gift group showed more power in high-frequency bands. Effect sizes were similar in magnitude to many scalable education interventions, although the significance of estimates varied with the analytic specification. In sum, using a rigorous randomized design, we provide evidence that giving monthly unconditional cash transfers to mothers experiencing poverty in the first year of their children's lives may change infant brain activity. Such changes reflect neuroplasticity and environmental adaptation and display a pattern that has been associated with the development of subsequent cognitive skills.

IMPORTANCE: Associations between in utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection and neurodevelopment are speculated, but currently unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, being born during the COVID-19 pandemic regardless of maternal SARS-CoV-2 status, and neurodevelopment at age 6 months. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cohort of infants exposed to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and unexposed controls was enrolled in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes Initiative at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. All women who delivered at Columbia University Irving Medical Center with a SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy were approached. Women with unexposed infants were approached based on similar gestational age at birth, date of birth, sex, and mode of delivery. Neurodevelopment was assessed using the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, 3rd Edition (ASQ-3) at age 6 months. A historical cohort of infants born before the pandemic who had completed the 6-month ASQ-3 were included in secondary analyses. EXPOSURES: Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Outcomes were scores on the 5 ASQ-3 subdomains, with the hypothesis that maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy would be associated with decrements in social and motor development at age 6 months. RESULTS: Of 1706 women approached, 596 enrolled; 385 women were invited to a 6-month assessment, of whom 272 (70.6%) completed the ASQ-3. Data were available for 255 infants enrolled in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes Initiative (114 in utero exposed, 141 unexposed to SARS-CoV-2; median maternal age at delivery, 32.0 [IQR, 19.0-45.0] years). Data were also available from a historical cohort of 62 infants born before the pandemic. In utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection was not associated with significant differences on any ASQ-3 subdomain, regardless of infection timing or severity. However, compared with the historical cohort, infants born during the pandemic had significantly lower scores on gross motor (mean difference, −5.63; 95% CI, −8.75 to −2.51; F(1,267) = 12.63; P