Family adversity and inhibitory control for economically disadvantaged children: preschool relations and associations with school readiness.

This study examined longitudinal relations linking aspects of family adversity to inhibitory control and school readiness for 120 economically disadvantaged children attending a Head Start preschool. The aspects of family adversity included income-to-needs ratios and an adversity index representing family instability and family chaos. The results showed that the adversity index but not the income ratios contributed to explaining diversity in the development of inhibitory control over the course of the preschool year. Additionally, the adversity index predicted school readiness at the end of the year, and the results suggested that inhibitory control mediated this effect. The implications concern understanding family sources of diversity in inhibitory control for economically disadvantaged preschool children. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.