The Early Emergence of SES Achievement Gaps: Disparities Across Race, Ethnicity, and Immigrant Status

Research documents positive associations between socioeconomic factors and children's cognitive development. However, the benefits of socioeconomic advantage may not accrue similarly to all children. In this study, we explored whether the relation between socioeconomic factors and early child cognitive outcomes differs as a function of children's racial/ethnic identity and family immigration status in a nationally representative sample of children (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort). The associations of family income with cognitive outcomes were weaker for Black and Hispanic children with U.S. born parents compared with White children with U.S. born parents and Hispanic and Asian children in immigrant families. Associations between parental education and cognitive outcomes were weaker for Hispanic children in immigrant families compared to White and Hispanic children with U.S. born parents. Findings suggest that benefits of socioeconomic factors for early cognitive development are uneven across social identities in the earliest years of development and invite further exploration into the mechanisms underlying differential patterns.