Promoting Resilience: A Preschool Intervention Enhances the Adolescent Adjustment of Children Exposed to Early Adversity

Two hundred ninety-four children from low-income families (58% White, 17% Latinx, 25% Black; 54% girls; Mage = 4.49 years old at study entry) were recruited from Head Start classrooms to participate in a randomized-controlled trial of the project REDI (Research-based, Developmentally Informed) preschool intervention and then followed longitudinally for 10 years through ninth grade. At study entry, parents reported on their children’s exposure to adverse experiences (ACEs). Youth reported on their feelings of social-emotional distress and school bonding after making the transition into middle school (seventh grade) and high school (ninth grade). Multilevel latent profile analyses revealed three profiles of adolescent distress and school bonding. Increased rates of ACEs in early childhood predicted membership in adolescent profiles characterized by heightened social-emotional distress and reduced levels of school bonding. The REDI intervention that focused on promoting early social-emotional and language skills in preschool moderated the impact of early ACEs on adolescent adjustment and promoted youth resilience, significantly buffering children from the negative impact of early ACEs on their levels of social-emotional distress and school bonding.

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Work Title Promoting Resilience: A Preschool Intervention Enhances the Adolescent Adjustment of Children Exposed to Early Adversity
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Michael Sanders
  2. Janet Welsh
  3. Karen Bierman
  4. Brenda Heinrichs
Keyword
  1. preschool intervention, social-emotional learning, adverse childhood experiences, adolescent adjustment, resilience
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Acknowledgments
  1. This project was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant HD046064 and the Institute of Education Sciences grant R305B090007. The views expressed in this article are ours and do not necessarily represent the granting agencies. Appreciation is expressed to the teachers, students, parents, and program personnel who served as partners in this project in the Huntingdon, Blair, and York County Head Start Programs of Pennsylvania and the school districts supporting the longitudinal data collection.
Publisher
  1. School Psychology
Publication Date September 21, 2020
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. 10.1037/spq0000406
Deposited March 17, 2021

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  • Created
  • Added Creator Karen Bierman
  • Updated Acknowledgments Show Changes
    Acknowledgments
    • This project was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant HD046064 and the Institute of Education Sciences grant R305B090007. The views expressed in this article are ours and do not necessarily represent the granting agencies. Appreciation is expressed to the teachers, students, parents, and program personnel who served as partners in this project in the Huntingdon, Blair, and York County Head Start Programs of Pennsylvania and the school districts supporting the longitudinal data collection.
  • Added Creator Michael Sanders
  • Updated Creator Karen Bierman
  • Added Creator Janet Welsh
  • Added Creator Brenda Heinrichs
  • Added Promoting Resilience - Final.docx
  • Updated Keyword, Publisher, Publisher Identifier (DOI), and 1 more Show Changes
    Keyword
    • preschool intervention, social-emotional learning, adverse childhood experiences, adolescent adjustment, resilience
    Publisher
    • School Psychology
    Publisher Identifier (DOI)
    • https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000406
    License
    • https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
  • Published
  • Updated Publisher Identifier (DOI) Show Changes
    Publisher Identifier (DOI)
    • https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000406
    • 10.1037/spq0000406
  • Updated
  • Updated