title: Cognitive ability at kindergarten entry and socioeconomic status.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine how gradients in socioeconomic status (SES) impact US children's reading and math ability at kindergarten entry and determine the contributions of family background, health, home learning, parenting, and early education factors to those gradients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analysis of 6600 children with cognitive assessments at kindergarten entry from the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study. A composite SES measure based on parent's occupation, education, and income was divided into quintiles. Wald F tests assessed bivariate associations between SES and child's cognitive ability and candidate explanatory variables. A decomposition methodology examined mediators of early cognitive gradients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Average reading percentile rankings increased from 34 to 67 across SES quintiles and math from 33 to 70. Children in lower SES quintiles had younger mothers, less frequent parent reading, less home computer use (27%-84%), and fewer books at home (26-114). Parent's supportive interactions, expectations for their child to earn a college degree (57%-96%), and child's preschool attendance (64%-89%) increased across quintiles. Candidate explanatory factors explained just over half the gradients, with family background factors explaining 8% to 13%, health factors 4% to 6%, home learning environment 18%, parenting style/beliefs 14% to 15%, and early education 6% to 7% of the gaps between the lowest versus highest quintiles in reading and math.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Steep social gradients in cognitive outcomes at kindergarten are due to many factors. Findings suggest policies targeting levels of socioeconomic inequality and a range of early childhood interventions are needed to address these disparities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, Illinois; and kalarson@aap.org.
authors.forename: Kandyce
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.affiliation: UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities.
authors.forename: Shirley A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Russ
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, and.
authors.forename: Bergen B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, Illinois; and.
authors.forename: Lynn M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.affiliation: UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, Department of Pediatrics, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Departments of Health Services, School of Public Health, and Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Neal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Halfon
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001076:Aptitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003469:Culture; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D016487:Parenting; D011932:Reading; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: children; cognition; disparities