There are a number of key European policy agendas related to early childhood on which the DIAL research can shed light. This policy brief gives an overview of findings from DIAL projects in this area. Key Findings Early childhood investments are key to social mobility, and inequalities which can be measured in early childhood have … Read more
DIAL Policy Brief No. 7 ‘Investing in early childhood: What can policymakers learn from Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course (DIAL) research?’
The emergence of 5-year-olds’ behavioral difficulties: Analyzing risk and protective pathways in the United Kingdom and Germany
This study aims to advance our understanding of 5-year-olds’ behavioral difficulties by getting to grips with certain facets of parenting and child development and how they might influence their child’s behavior. The research makes use of data from the United Kingdom and Germany to examine positive and negative parenting behavior, any distress a parent reports … Read more
Specific parenting behaviors link maternal education to toddlers’ language and social competence
This study seeks to unpack the underlying ways in which a mother’s education is linked with her toddler’s verbal and social skills. Specifically, it investigates whether different ways of parenting play a role in this. The research uses data on around 2500 children and their mothers to test previous research showing in a very broad … Read more
The Role of Social and Emotional Adjustment in Mediating the Relationship Between Early Experiences and Different Language Outcomes
This paper looks at how the home learning environment of very young children might affect their language and communication skills later on. The research draws on data from 5,000 children born in Scotland in 2003 to examine the links between how depressed or stressed parents were, the home learning environment of their child at age … Read more
Addressing inequalities early in life
The trajectory of a human’s life course is by no means determined at birth. Nevertheless, the circumstances a child is born into and events taking place during the early childhood, or even gestation, shape life-course trajectories. A substantial amount of research in the Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course (DIAL) research programme has examined what … Read more
Testing the association between the early parent–child relationship and teacher reported socio-emotional difficulties at 11 years: a quantile mediation analysis
This paper investigates the strength of association behind well documented links between early parenting factors and later adolescent mental health problems. It goes on to consider the role of language skills at school entry in mediating those links. The research makes use of from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to look into the first … Read more
Vocabulary development and trajectories of behavioral and emotional difficulties via academic ability and peer problems
This study investigates associations between trajectories of children’s vocabulary development and subsequent behavioral and emotional difficulties via two potential mediating mechanisms; literacy and peer problems. Nationally representative data from 4,983 Australian children were used to examine trajectories of receptive vocabulary (4–5, 6–7, and 8–9 years) and hyperactivity-inattention, conduct problems and emotional symptoms (8–9, 10–11, 12–13, 14–15 years), … Read more
Association of Slight to Mild Hearing Loss With Behavioral Problems and School Performance in Children
Importance Children with severe hearing loss are known to have more behavioral problems and may perform worse at school than children without. Few large-scale studies of slight to mild hearing loss are available. Objective To examine the relevance of slight to mild hearing loss by studying its association with behavioral problems and school performance. Design, … Read more
Association of proximal elements of social disadvantage with children’s language development at 2 years: an analysis of data from the Children in Focus (CiF) sample from the ALSPAC birth cohort
Background An association between social disadvantage and early language development is commonly reported in the literature, but less attention has been paid to the way that different aspects of social disadvantage affect both expressive and receptive language in the first 2 years of life. Aims To examine the contributions of gender, parental report of early … Read more
Bidirectional associations of childhood stuttering with behavior and temperament
Purpose: Behavior and temperament (e.g., emotional reactivity, self-regulation) have been considered relevant to stuttering and its developmental course, but the direction of this relation is still unknown. Knowledge of behavior difficulties and temperament in childhood stuttering can improve screening and intervention. The current study examined both directions of the relationship between stuttering and behavior difficulties … Read more