This Early Parental Behaviour

Predicts A Childs Academic and

Social Skills 3 Decades Later

This parental behaviour in the first three

years is vital to a childs future success.
Sensitive caregiving in the first three years of life
can predict academic achievement and social
competence all the way into adulthood, a new
study finds.
Parents who are sensitive caregivers tend to
respond to their childs signals promptly and
appropriately.

Sensitive parents are also positively involved in

interactions with the child and provide a secure
base for them to explore the world.
Dr. Lee Raby, who led the study, said:
The study indicates that the quality of childrens
early caregiving experiences has an enduring and
ongoing role in promoting successful social and
academic development into the years of maturity.
The conclusions, published in the journal Child
Development, come from a study of 243 people
born into poverty from a range of backgrounds
(Raby et al., 2014).
Their progress was followed from birth to age 32 as
part of the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk
and Adaptation.
Parents were observed interacting with their
children during the first three years of the infants
lives.
Later on, children completed standardised tests
and their social adaptation was reported on by their
teachers.
The researchers continued to follow the children,
even into their twenties and thirties, asking them
about their adult relationships and academic
attainment.

The results showed that even into their thirties,

those early caregiving experiences continued to be
linked to their eventual academic attainment.
Social functioning was less strongly linked to early
caregiving experiences with the effect tailing off
into participants thirties.
Dr Raby said:
Altogether, the study suggests that childrens
experiences with parents during the first few years
of life have a unique role in promoting social and
academic functioningnot merely during the first
two decades of life, but also during adulthood.
This suggests that investments in early parent-child
relationships may result in long-term returns that
accumulate across individuals lives.
Because individuals success in relationships and
academics represents the foundation for a healthy
society, programs and initiatives that equip parents
to interact with their children in a sensitive manner
during the first few years of their childrens life can
have long-term benefits for individuals, families,
and society at large.