Social and Emotional Development in Young Low-Income Children: What
Research Tells Us and Why It Matters for Early School Success
Testimony Presented by Dr. Jane Knitzer
National Center for Children in Poverty
Mailman School of Public Health,
Columbia University, New York, New York
January 29, 2003
Russell Senate Office Building, Caucus Room
My name is Jane Knitzer. I am the Deputy Director of the National Center for Children in
Poverty (NCCP), which is a national research-based organization committed to using
research to promote family economic security, ensure strong healthy and, especially
relevant for today's hearing, see that young children enter school ready to succeed. This
morning, I will focus on what research tells us about four critical questions that are
critical to understanding why social and emotional development in young children is
important and why it matters for early school success.

Why pay attention to social and emotional development in low-income young
children?

How many young children face social and emotional problems that pose risks to
school readiness and early success in school?

What does emerging research say about intentional interventions that are explicitly
designed to promote healthy social and emotional development as part of school
readiness?

What are the implications for Head Start and other early childhood programs?
For those working in early childhood programs, these questions are critical. Reports from
the field tell a story of urgency and frustration. Too many young children are described as
"sad, bad and mad", but teachers and sometimes parents do not know what to do. Young
children are being kicked out of early childhood programs, sometimes many times,
because of their behaviors. Kindergarten teachers report that between one third and one
half of young children are not "ready for school" because they lack the social and
emotional skills to follow directions, relate to others and manage their own impulses and
behaviors effectively. Therefore, I am very grateful to the National Head Start
Association for calling attention to this very important, but largely invisible challenge as
we all work to ensure that consistent with the goals of this Administration and of the
Educate America Act, every child does enter school ready to succeed.
I. Why pay attention to social and emotional development in low-income young
children?
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Recent and cumulative research suggests three reasons to pay special attention to social
and emotional development in young children, particularly poor young children.
1. Healthy early social and emotional development matters. According to a recent report
from the National Academy of Science, the earliest relationships and experiences,
starting in infancy, matter more for development than has been understood (Shonkoff &
Phillips, 2001). They set the stage for three very important aspects of social and
emotional development: 1) how children learn to regulate their own emotions, known
technically as self-regulation 2) how they feel about themselves, which in turn affects
whether they see themselves as competent and able to learn, and 3) how they relate to
other adults and peers. In turn, competence in these areas set the stage for successful
mastery of later developmental tasks. Early problems foreshadow later difficulties.
2. Poor children are disproportionately likely to experience risk factors that increase
the probability of poor social and emotional development. Major risk factors include
poverty and other socio-demographic risk factors, such as low parental educational
levels, single parenthood, and non-English speaking parents. A study of all kindergarten
children found that 32 percent of all young children are in families experiencing one of
these risks, sixteen percent two or more (Zill & West, 2001). A recent study of Head Start
found that over a ten-year period, the proportion of Head Start families facing multiple
demographic risks has increased by 22 percent (Foster, 2003).
Other specific parental/familial circumstances also pose significant risks for
young children. Particularly problematic for social and emotional development are
parental alcohol or drug abuse, depression and exposure to domestic violence. While
families across class experience these risks, poor families are more likely to be affected,
and the parents less likely to have access to treatment or help. The specific impacts on
children vary. Some children are affected because of harsh, cold, inconsistent and distant
parenting practices that in turn negatively affect a young child's social and emotional
competence. Recent data from the National Institute of Child Health and Development
indicate that infants of clinically depressed mothers at age three showed more negative
behavioral and cognitive performance than children whose mothers were not depressed.
Other research has related parental psychosocial risk factors to developmental delays,
symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, difficult behaviors (extreme aggression,
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sadness), problems with peer and caregiver relationships (inability to trust), poor health
and later vulnerability to alcohol, tobacco, drugs and substance abuse (Knitzer, 2000).
Countervailing protective factors in the child or the child's environment-- -- a caring
stable adult, a high quality Head Start program can be potent factors in counteracting the
impact of these risks. But research is clear that the more risk factors young children are
exposed to, (including not just psychosocial or parental risk factors, but others such as
environmental toxins or childhood disability), the more likely they are to experience poor
social and emotional development. For example, the Early Head Start study, involving a
rigorous, random assignment research design involving over 3000 families revealed a
pattern of modest but positive cognitive and behavioral impacts on the parents and
children. But the findings also suggests that when families experience three or more risk
factors, neither parents nor children gain as much as do other participants.
3. Poor social and emotional development predicts poor academic outcomes. Emerging
research is beginning to shed light on links between early academic competence and
social and emotional competence. Much of the research suggests that poor social and
emotional development sets the stage for poor learning performance. Researchers have
found that emotional, social and behavioral competence (marked by more cooperation
and self-control and less aggressive behavior) in early childhood predicts children's
academic performance as early as the first grade as well as whether they will have to
repeat kindergarten (Raver & Knitzer, 20002; Raver, 2002). It also suggests that not only
are young children who act in antisocial ways less likely to be accepted by peers and
teachers, but that teachers are also likely to spend less time teaching them and giving
them positive feedback. Research also suggests that teachers can unwittingly perpetuate
high levels of misbehavior in their classrooms by ignoring problem behaviors or reacting
harshly because they do not have help in defining alternatives. Less research has focused
on the social and emotional consequences for children who have trouble with early
learning, but some work suggests that academic failure can also trigger social and
emotional problems. This is an area where much more research is needed.
III. How many young children are facing social and emotional problems that pose
risks to school readiness and early success in school?
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Although there are no national epidemiological data on the extent of either multiple risks
in young children or of diagnosable emotional difficulties, it is possible to piece a picture
together. A recent large scale, longitudinal study of kindergarten children suggests that
ten percent show problematic behavior. Rates are two or three times as high in lowincome samples (and sometimes, in studies of particular programs, even higher). The
evidence about the distribution of parental risk factors in low-income families points in
the same direction. Virtually all prevalence estimates show elevated parental risks in lowincome samples. Depression, for example, is estimated to be twice as common in lowincome parents as it is in non-low income parents and rates as high as 40 percent are not
uncommon in samples low-income parents of young children. Young children are more
likely than children of any other age to be exposed to domestic violence (Fantuzzo,
1997). Head Start parents report that 17 percent of their children have been exposed to
domestic violence. Prevalence rates of diagnosable, clinical levels of problems are lower,
probably between four and ten percent, although some estimates are higher.
IV. What does research say about intentional interventions that are explicitly
designed to promote healthy social and emotional development as part of school
readiness?
Overall, the most sobering reality is that we know much more about the causes and
consequences of poor early social emotional development than we do about how to
change negative trajectories. But a small body of research is beginning to point to several
approaches most likely to help young children facing significant threats.
1. High quality early care and learning experiences should be the first line of defense.
Research on child care tell us that low income children in high-quality early care and
learning settings are significantly better off, cognitively and emotionally than similar
children in poor-quality settings. Research on Early Head Start tells a similar story. Wellimplemented Early Head Start programs achieved better outcomes for their children and
families.
2. Intentional social and emotional interventions in the context of early childhood
programs show promise. Three types of interventions to promote healthy social and
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emotional development show promise. The first involves classroom-based interventions
along with integrated teacher and parent training components. In the most rigorously
researched, the Incredible Years, both parents and Head Start teachers participate in a
similar, facilitated, experiential curriculum, while the children have a social skills
curriculum (Reid & Webster Stratton, 2001). Research on the parent components
suggests that the approach is effective even for parents experiencing multiple risks (such
as childhood foster care, child abuse and domestic violence) although results were less
positive for parents who had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons.
A second type of intervention links behavioral health strategies (e.g. mental health
consultants) with early childhood programs. Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS), an
initiative carried out in Head Start, child care and pediatric settings involved a sample of
close to 3000 children. Noteworthy preliminary findings are similar to the Early Head
Start data: improved parenting strategies and parent-child relationships, improved
behavioral, cognitive and language outcomes for the children, and, for parents with
substance abuse problems, improved utilization of treatment. What was particularly
striking in the preliminary results was that not only did the outcomes improve among
those enrolled in SESS, but the comparison group outcomes for some critical measures
worsened. Smaller studies of early childhood mental health consultation are also in
progress, some showing not just improvements in child outcomes, but also in the quality
of the child care environment. The third type of intervention-- comprehensive service
delivery systems designed explicitly to provide treatment to more troubled young
children, as well as prevention and early intervention, and carried in partnerships with
early childhood and mental health agencies—is more limited. But even here, in the one
statewide systems that has been implemented the Children's Upstream Project in
Vermont, results have also been positive.
IV. What are the implications for Head Start and other early childhood programs?
The research highlighted here makes it clear that most early childhood teachers and
caregivers working with low-income young children are not prepared to deal with the
level of social and emotional risk facing the children, even as, appropriately, they are
urged to focus on early learning content and skills. This suggests a four-point agenda for
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the future: 1) Strengthen the quality of early childhood programs and increase the
capacity of teachers and child care providers to help a large group of low-income children
achieve the kind of social and emotional skills that are necessary to succeed in the early
school years; 2) Better integrate explicit early literacy strategies with strategies to
promote social and emotional skills in young children; 3) Develop more intensive
interventions for the most vulnerable young children and families exposed to multiple
risk factors; and, 4) Deepen the research knowledge base about the efficacy of all of these
types of interventions.
As Head Start approaches its 40th anniversary, it can play a leadership role in
challenging the current debate that pits social and emotional competence against literacy.
It is not either or in the lives of young children; it is both, and programs and social
policies for Head Start and for all other early childhood programs need to build on this
developmental reality.
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