Initial Risk Matrix, Home Resources, Ability Development and Children's Achievement

Abstract

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp08100.pdf Nontechnical SummaryDeep-seated capabilities formed in early childhood, a period of dramatic growth and need for intensive interaction with an "invested adult", may have long-term implications for human development and personality. Human capital research analyzes the relationship between initial risk conditions (from the organic and the psychosocial dimension), investments and ability development to gain an understanding of the formation of competence, both from an economic and a psychological point of view.Our contribution to this burgeoning multidisciplinary literature on individual development is twofold. First, we present economic models of ability formation with unique data from a developmental psychological approach for the first time. The data are taken from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk (MARS), an epidemiological cohort study that follows 384 children from birth to adulthood. MARS provides detailed psychometric and medical assessments as well as psychological expert ratings on various child outcome measures. We study data from infancy to adolescence with variables on initial risk conditions, on cognitive and motor abilities, as well as on persistence, a noncognitive ability. Second, we analyse the relationship between economic and socio-emotional home resources and the development of abilities, and investigate the predictive power of abilities acquired at preschool age for children's achievement at school age. This should deepen the understanding of competence formation from both an economic and a psychological perspective.Results indicate that differences in abilities at infancy increase until adolescence, while there is a remarkable stability in the distribution of the economic and socioemotional home resources during childhood. Initial organic and psychosocial risk conditions trigger a cumulative effect. Persistence fosters cognitive abilities and school achievement. Basic abilities at preschool age significantly predict social competencies and school grades. Higher basic abilities at primary school age and higher home resources predict a higher-track secondary school attendance. Growing up in an unfavourable socio-emotional family environment impedes the development of basic cognitive and motor abilities. The disadvantage continues until school age, an important stage for noncognitive ability formation. Disadvantaged children are impeded again ...

Fiskalische und individuelle Bildungsrenditen – aktuelle Befunde für Deutschland

“…Bereits im Säuglingsalter tragen emotionale Zuwendung und Feinfühligkeit in der Eltern-Kind-Dyade zum Aufbau von frühen Kompetenzen und selbstregulatorischen Kompetenzen bei. Die Qualität dieser Zuwendung wurde unter anderem im Rahmen der Längsschnitterhebung "Mannheimer Risikokinderstudie" mit der Mannheimer Beurteilungsskala gemessen (Blomeyer et al, 2009(Blomeyer et al, , 2010 …”

Predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje kao socijalna investicija

“…Ali autori ujedno naglašavaju da djeca iz vrtića imaju početnu prednost pri polasku u školu jer su u vrtiću dobili specifičan trening koji je sličan školskom učenju (Clarke-Stewart i Fine, 1991.). Zato postižu bolje početne rezultate u školi, a oni se održavaju kasnije tijekom osnovnog i srednjeg školovanja (Blomeyer, 2008.;Vandell, 2010.). Utjecaj početne prednosti na budućnost školovanja posebno je istaknut u onim školama gdje je naglasak na natjecanju, uspoređivanju i ocjenjivanju (Čudina-Obradović, 1995.).…”

On the Power of Childhood Impressions for Skill Formation. Initial Evidence and Unsettled Questions

“…The novelty of the paper is that it tries to bond two different and hitherto separated research lines, one from economics the other from psychology. First, results from selected recent studies on pre-and perinatal organic and psychosocial risk factors as well as the socio-emotional home environment for children's achievement in adolescence are presented, based on the technology of skill formation (Blomeyer et al, 2009, forthcoming, Cunha et al, 2010. Supplementary, initial evidence on the relation between the time and region of birth and socio-economic outcomes in adulthood is provided.…”