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Psychosocial and socioeconomic adversity in early childhood (termed 'social adversity') can have lifelong detrimental effects on health and development. Physiological stress is one proposed mechanism by which social adversity... more
Psychosocial and socioeconomic adversity in early childhood (termed 'social adversity') can have lifelong detrimental effects on health and development. Physiological stress is one proposed mechanism by which social adversity 'gets under the skin'. There is substantial research interest in whether hair cortisol, a biomarker proposed to measure the cumulative physiological stress response over time, can illustrate this mechanism. As a result, a growing number of studies have tested for associations between indicators of social adversity and child hair cortisol. The aim of this paper is to conduct a comprehensive, systematic review of the evidence for associations between indicators of social adversity and hair cortisol, specifically in young children (birth to 8 years) published any time up to 31 December 2019. The literature search identified 44 published studies that met inclusion criteria. The studies examined associations between one or more indicators of social adversity and child hair cortisol across 35 independent cohorts comprising 8370 children. Indicators of adversity examined in the identified literature included socioeconomic factors (e.g. low parental education, low income and unemployment), psychosocial factors (e.g. parent stress, poor mental health and family violence), and children's direct exposure to maltreatment, abuse and stressful events. Across all indicators of adversity, a total of 142 associations with hair cortisol were examined. Evidence of associations was limited and inconsistent; 34/142 (24%) showed evidence of a positive association between adversity and higher hair cortisol, 8/142 (6%) showed a negative association, and more than two thirds (100/142, 70%) of all examined associations were null. The collective evidence appears insufficient to conclude that there is a relationship between social adversity and hair cortisol, as a measure of physiological stress response, in young children.
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Quality of life, Health, Medicine, Children, and 14 moreMapping, Goodness of Fit, Utility, Validity, Public health systems and services research, Science Technology, PEDSQL, Quality of Life Research, Economic evaluation, Develop, Quality Life, D, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, and Health Care Sciences & Services
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Purpose The purpose of this letter is to respond to Marcotte's (2019) letter to the editor, “The Influence of Treatment on Children's Recovery from Stuttering: Comments on Kefalianos et al. (2017) and Leech et al. (2017),”... more
Purpose The purpose of this letter is to respond to Marcotte's (2019) letter to the editor, “The Influence of Treatment on Children's Recovery from Stuttering: Comments on Kefalianos et al. (2017) and Leech et al. (2017),” published by the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research .
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OBJECTIVES We investigated whether nurse home visiting (NHV) affects the uptake and quality of formal early childhood education and care (ECEC) at child ages 2 and 3 years, and reasons for using ECEC at 3 years. METHODS Design: Secondary... more
OBJECTIVES We investigated whether nurse home visiting (NHV) affects the uptake and quality of formal early childhood education and care (ECEC) at child ages 2 and 3 years, and reasons for using ECEC at 3 years. METHODS Design: Secondary analysis of the "right@home" randomized trial of NHV. PARTICIPANTS 722 pregnant Australian, English-speaking women experiencing adversity recruited from antenatal clinics across two States. INTERVENTION 25 nurse home visits to 2-years; Control: universal well-child nursing service. MEASURES Parents reported formal ECEC use (government approved and subsidized), comprising long or family day care (LDC/FDC), and reasons for use. ECEC quality was classified using the Australian government's national ratings. 83% of parents provided data at 2-years (306 intervention/290 control); and 69% at 3-years (255 intervention/240 control). ANALYSIS Intention-to-treat analyses were conducted using adjusted regression models, addressing missing data using multiple imputation and inverse probability weighting. RESULTS There was no evidence of group differences in ECEC uptake or quality, although control families may have used more LDC at 3 years (mean difference 2.8 hours, 95% CI: -0.2 to 5.8 hours). Intervention parents reported using ECEC to support their children's social development more frequently than controls (48% versus 33%) but less for work/study (39% versus 46%). CONCLUSIONS The right@home NHV program did not impact ECEC uptake or quality, although it may influence parents' reasons for using ECEC. If supported by policy and provision, there is an opportunity for NHV programs to promote the transition to high-quality ECEC and evaluate the synergistic benefit on children's development.
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Research Interests: Psychology, Mental Health, Medicine, Anxiety, Pregnancy, and 3 moreCohort, Longitudinal Study, and ANXIETY
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BACKGROUND Prevention is key to reducing socioeconomic inequities in children’s mental health problems, especially given limited availability and accessibility of services. We investigated the potential to reduce inequities for... more
BACKGROUND Prevention is key to reducing socioeconomic inequities in children’s mental health problems, especially given limited availability and accessibility of services. We investigated the potential to reduce inequities for disadvantaged children by improving parental mental health and preschool attendance in early childhood. METHODS Data from the nationally representative birth cohort, Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 5107, commenced in 2004), were used to examine the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage (0–1 year) on children’s mental health problems (10–11 years). Using an interventional effects approach, we estimated the extent to which inequities could be reduced by improving disadvantaged children’s parental mental health (4–5 years) and their preschool attendance (4–5 years). RESULTS Disadvantaged children had a higher prevalence of elevated mental health symptoms (32.8%) compared with their nondisadvantaged peers (18.7%): confounder-adjusted difference in p...
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BackgroundThere is no sufficiently accurate short‐language measure that could be used by speech–language pathologists, teachers or paraprofessionals to screen young school‐aged children to identify those requiring in‐depth language... more
BackgroundThere is no sufficiently accurate short‐language measure that could be used by speech–language pathologists, teachers or paraprofessionals to screen young school‐aged children to identify those requiring in‐depth language evaluations. This may be due to poor development of the available measures, which have omitted crucial test development steps. Applying more stringent development procedures could result in a measure with sufficient accuracy.AimsTo create and validate a short‐language measure that has acceptable accuracy, validity and reliability, and which can be used to identify children who require further assessment and/or referral to speech–language services.Methods & ProceduresThe study consisted of two phases. In Phase 1 (measure creation), 56 children were assessed with 160 direction‐following and sentence‐recall test items and a reference measure, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—Fourth Edition (CELF‐4). Items were then examined for their individu...
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Supplemental material, Supplementary_Material for Cross-sectional metabolic profiles of mental health in population-based cohorts of 11- to 12-year-olds and mid-life adults: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children by Katherine... more
Supplemental material, Supplementary_Material for Cross-sectional metabolic profiles of mental health in population-based cohorts of 11- to 12-year-olds and mid-life adults: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children by Katherine Lange, Kate Lycett, Susan Ellul, Richard Saffery, Fiona Mensah, John Carlin, Lisa Gold, Ben Edwards, Peter Azzopardi, Michael Sawyer, Markus Juonala, David Burgner and Melissa Wake in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
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Research Interests: Demography, Pediatrics, Obesity, Health, Medicine, and 15 moreCardiovascular Risk, Metabolic syndrome, Overweight, Age, Adulthood, Disease, Body Mass Index, Determinants, Science Technology, Trajectories, Pulse Wave Velocity, Confidence Interval, confounding, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Medical and Health Sciences
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OBJECTIVES To examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in young children with low language or congenital hearing loss and to explore the value of assessing HRQoL by concurrently administering 2 HRQoL instruments in populations of... more
OBJECTIVES To examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in young children with low language or congenital hearing loss and to explore the value of assessing HRQoL by concurrently administering 2 HRQoL instruments in populations of children. METHODS Data were from 2 Australian community-based studies: Language for Learning (children with typical and low language at age 4 years, n = 1012) and the Statewide Comparison of Outcomes study (children with hearing loss, n = 108). HRQoL was measured using the parent-reported Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3) and the Pediatrics Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL) generic core scale. Agreement between the HRQoL instruments was assessed using intraclass correlation and Bland-Altman plots. RESULTS Children with low language and with hearing loss had lower HRQoL than children with normal language; the worst HRQoL was experienced by children with both. The lower HRQoL was mainly due to impaired school functioning (PedsQL) and speech and cognition (HUI3). Children with hearing loss also had impaired physical and social functioning (PedsQL), vision, hearing, dexterity, and ambulation (HUI3). Correlations between instruments were poor to moderate, with low agreement. CONCLUSIONS Children with low language and congenital hearing loss might benefit from interventions targeting overall health and well-being, not just their impairments. The HUI3 and PedsQL each seemed to provide unique information and thus may supplement each other in assessing HRQoL of young children, including those with low language or congenital hearing loss.
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Research Interests: Psychology, Psychiatry, Social Sciences, Family studies, Intelligence, and 15 moreBehavior, Linguistics, Early Childhood, Impression Management, Observation, Qualitative Interviews, Health Research, Pressure, Research Participation, Science Technology, Family Studies, Observational Study, Parent Report, Reactivity, and Choking
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ObjectiveAssess the mental health, physical health, cognitive and language development of 10-year old children in families where mothers have reported intimate partner violence (IPV) compared with children with no reported IPV... more
ObjectiveAssess the mental health, physical health, cognitive and language development of 10-year old children in families where mothers have reported intimate partner violence (IPV) compared with children with no reported IPV exposure.DesignProspective pregnancy cohort. Maternal report of IPV (Composite Abuse Scale) at 1, 4 and 10 years. Maternal and direct assessment of child mental health (probable psychiatric diagnosis, anxiety and emotional/behavioural difficulties), cognition (IQ and executive function), language (general, pragmatic and receptive) and physical health at 10 years.SettingA subsample of 615 mother–child dyads drawn from a pregnancy cohort of 1507 nulliparous women recruited from six public hospitals in Melbourne, Australia.ResultsAny IPV exposure from infancy to age 10 was associated with poorer child outcomes at age 10. Specifically, twice the odds of a probable psychiatric diagnosis, emotional/behavioural difficulties, impaired language skills (general and pragmatic), and having consulted a health professional about asthma or sleep problems. IPV exposure at age 10 associated with two to three times higher odds of all mental health outcomes, elevated blood pressure and sleep problems. Early life exposure alone (at 1 and/or 4 years) associated with three times higher odds of a general language problem and asthma at age 10.ConclusionThe high prevalence of IPV and increased risk of poorer health and development among children exposed highlights the burden of ill health carried by children in families experiencing IPV. Fewer difficulties where exposure was limited to the early years builds the case for better identification, understanding and resourcing of effective early intervention.