This research provides some avenues for further investigation of how race and SES may jointly influence young children’s academic development and school readiness. First, study 1 reveals that household income and parental educational attainment do not yield equivalent academic benefits for Black and White children, and that race differences in early skills acquisition underlies, to a significant degree, later patterns of educational inequality among SES-matched Black and White students, especially in math and science performance. Findings from study 2 illustrate the ways in which proximity to (dis)advantage disparately impacts developmental contexts and formative experiences in early childhood and, consequently, illuminates pathways by which within-SES race gaps in achievement may develop and persist.
For example, economic disadvantage and challenges associated with the frantic pace and competing demands of family life and childrearing fomented heightened levels of stress among both Black and White families, which in turn can tax parents’ emotional and psychological resources and thereby impair their ability to interact warmly and sensitively with their children (Conger et al., 1994; McLoyd, 1990). However, compared to their low-income Black peers, low- income White families in this sample benefitted from greater access to more socioeconomically- advantaged kin networks, which provided financial resources and support that not only acted as a buffer against the ravages of extreme deprivation but also enabled greater investment in enriching learning opportunities and activities. In fact, race differences in access to financial support persisted (and in some respects were exacerbated) among middle-income Black and White families. White middle-income families were able to marshal substantial financial resources to
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provide a vaster and more diverse array of cognitively-stimulating materials and experiences to their children along with access to access safer, more cohesive, and more family-friendly communities. Conversely, with fewer financial resources at their disposal, middle-income Black parents confronted more circumscribed housing and neighborhood choices and possessed less discretionary income to invest in learning opportunities, such as center-based ECEC. Recall Aisha who lamented that financial constraints inhibited her ability to place her son in “high-quality child care” and were the reason he “didn’t go to a formal preschool until he was five.”
In contrast to her middle-income White peers, but similar to her low- and middle-income Black counterparts, economic constraints likewise undermined Aisha’s ability to purchase a home, and as a result, her ability to secure residence in a more hospitable and well-resourced community. Discussing the barriers imposed by financial constraints, Aisha said, “So even thinking about home ownership and those kinds of barriers, because if you want a home you want it be in a good neighborhood. You want it to be in a good space, but it’s significantly more expensive. So just being able to, you know, do that isn’t easy. We’re not there yet, even though we have decent paying jobs, and he has a better paying job than me. But, we’re not there yet.” Her narrative highlights the interconnections between multiple forms of proximity to (dis)advantage and the differential effects they exert on Black and White families’ access to resources, exposure to stressors, and social contexts and experiences. For example, dangerous neighborhood conditions, higher social mistrust, and relatedly weak social ties increased Black parents’ psychological distress and discomfort and seemingly undermined their willingness to let their children play outdoors and engage with peers as well as their own comfort with establishing strong relationships with neighbors. Such parenting decisions, borne out of reasonable fears and efforts at mitigating the threats to children’s safety, can have implications for children’s academic and social development.
First, children in communities wherein parents and children spend considerable time socializing with peers may benefit from richer, more immersive language and learning environments, and potentially, parents may enjoy superior access to privileged social networks that share information about childrearing practices and educational resources and engage in patterns of collective socialization that promote child well-being. Critically, the provision of a variety of enriching learning experiences (Bradley & Caldwell, 1984; Votruba-Drzal, 2003; Yeung, Linver, & Brooks- Gunn, 2002), parental home ownership (Zhan & Sherraden, 2003), neighborhood safety (De Marco & Vernon-Feagans, 2013; Sampson et al., 2008) and neighborhood social capital (Jones & Shen, 2014) have been linked to children’s cognitive development, school readiness, and academic performance.
Furthermore, while a wealth of developmental theory and research outlines connections between family stress and child academic and behavioral development (Conger et al., 2002; Raver, Gershoff, & Aber, 2007), findings from study 2 suggest that disparities in exposure to economic pressure and physical and psychological trauma, in particular, may serve as mechanisms through which proximity to (dis)advantage disparately impacts the level and intensity of environmental stressors Black and White families with similar socioeconomic profiles experience. Low-income, African-American mom, Raina, spoke in concrete terms about the psychological and physical toll that her experience as a victim of violent crime exacted on her. She said, “That’s why I feel like I’m not working now is because it still hurts when it’s cold outside, I feel it in my legs. I’m ready to move. I’m just happy my baby wasn’t here.” Her narrative reveals a high degree of persistent psychic vigilance, “We don’t go outside. And if we do, we go out through the back. And I never catch the bus; I never walk up and down the hill. We normally get in the car and go wherever we
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have to go.” In this way, trauma can exert a distinct effect on children’s physical and social environments as well as on their parents’ psychological dispositions.
4.2 CONCEPTUAL & METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES GUIDING THIS