Publication Summary
Children born into neighborhood adversity are at risk for low academic achievement. Identifying factors that help children from disadvantaged neighborhoods thrive is critical for reducing inequalities. We investigated whether children’s prosocial behavior buffers concurrent and subsequent academic risk in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Bradford, UK. Diverse children (N = 1,185) were followed from before birth to age seven, with measurements taken at four time points. We used governmental indexes of neighborhood adversity, teachers observations of prosocial behaviors, and direct assessments of academic achievement. Neighborhood disadvantage was associated with lower academic achievement only among children who displayed low levels of prosocial behavior. Findings were robust to sensitivity and sub-group analyses. Prosocial behavior may mitigate early academic risk in contexts of neighborhood disadvantage.
CAER Authors
Dr. Liam Hill
University of Leeds - Lecturer in Developmental Psychology