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Objective: We examined whether neonatal risks and maternal scaffolding (i.e., task changes and flexibility) during a 16-month post-term play interaction moderated the association between socioeconomic status (SES), visual-spatial processing and emerging working memory assessed at 24 months post-term among 75 toddlers born preterm or low birth weight.Method: SES and neonatal risk data were collected at hospital discharge and mother-child play interactions were observed at 16-month post-term. General cognitive abilities, verbal/nonverbal working memory and visual-spatial processing data were collected at 24 months.Results: Neonatal risks did not moderate the associations between SES and 24-month outcomes. However, lower mother-initiated task changes were related to better 24-month visual-spatial processing among children living in higher SES homes. Mothers' flexible responses to child initiated task changes similarly moderated the impact of SES on 24-month visual-spatial processing.Conclusion: Our results suggest that mothers' play behaviors differentially relate to child outcomes depending on household SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood. Given its aim to examine the impact of adversity and protective factors on children's outcomes, the recruitment and retention of families who have a wide diversity in experiences are essential. However, the unfortunate history of inequitable treatment of underrepresented families in research and the risks with which some participants will contend (e.g., substance use) makes their recruitment and retention in social science and neuroscience research particularly challenging. This article explores strategies that the HBCD Study has developed to recruit and retain participants, including marginalized, underserved, and hard-to-reach populations, capitalizing on the extant literature and the researchers' own experiences. In this paper, we address strategies to recruit and retain families within HBCD, including: 1) creating experiences that engender trust and promote relationships; 2) maintaining connections with participants over time; 3) ensuring appropriate compensation and supports; 4) considerations for study materials and procedures; and 5) community engagement. The implementation of these strategies may increase representation and inclusiveness, as well as improve the quality of the resulting data., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Declaration of Competing Interests None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)