Parental Educational Attainment, the Superior Temporal Cortical Surface Area, and Reading Ability among American Children: A Test of Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have shown that parental educational attainment is associated with a larger superior temporal cortical surface area associated with higher reading ability in children. Simultaneously, the marginalization-related diminished returns (MDRs) framework suggests that, due to structural racism and social stratification, returns of parental education are smaller for black and other racial/ethnic minority children compared to their white counterparts. Purpose: This study used a large national sample of 9–10-year-old American children to investigate associations between parental educational attainment, the right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability across diverse racial/ethnic groups. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 10,817 9–10-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Parental educational attainment was treated as a five-level categorical variable. Children’s right and left superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability were continuous variables. Race/ethnicity was the moderator. To adjust for the nested nature of the ABCD data, mixed-effects regression models were used to test the associations between parental education, superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability overall and by race/ethnicity. Results: Overall, high parental educational attainment was associated with greater superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability in children. In the pooled sample, we found statistically significant interactions between race/ethnicity and parental educational attainment on children’s right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, suggesting that high parental educational attainment has a smaller boosting effect on children’s superior temporal cortical surface area for black than white children. We also found a significant interaction between race and the left superior temporal surface area on reading ability, indicating weaker associations for Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AIAN/NHPI) than white children. We also found interactions between race and parental educational attainment on reading ability, indicating more potent effects for black children than white children. Conclusion: While parental educational attainment may improve children’s superior temporal cortical surface area, promoting reading ability, this effect may be unequal across racial/ethnic groups. To minimize the racial/ethnic gap in children’s brain development and school achievement, we need to address societal barriers that diminish parental educational attainment’s marginal returns for middle-class minority families. Social and public policies need to go beyond equal access and address structural and societal barriers that hinder middle-class families of color and their children. Future research should test how racism, social stratification, segregation, and discrimination, which shape the daily lives of non-white individuals, take a toll on children’s brains and academic development.

Parents and Peers in Child and Adolescent Development: Preface to the Special Issue on Additive, Multiplicative, and Transactional Mechanisms

“…One innovation is the inclusion of both mothers and fathers in five of the six empirical studies in this Special Issue, an approach that was not often taken in past parent-peer literature. Additionally, child and adolescent samples are represented in the empirical papers: Assari et al [1] and Jespersen et al [2] studied children; Cox et al [3], Havewala et al [4], Hu et al [5], Lindsey [6], and Sigal et al's [7] samples comprised adolescents; and Gazelle and Cui's [8] included both age groups. This is in line with our belief that peer groups are critical contexts for socialization in both childhood and adolescence.…”

“…This is in line with our belief that peer groups are critical contexts for socialization in both childhood and adolescence. Finally, the samples included greater diversity than many studies in the past: Black and Latinx populations were well represented in the Sigal et al [7], Lindsey [6], and Gazelle and Cui samples [8]; Hu et al's [5] sample was from mainland China; Cox et al's [3] theory was developed to specifically address the experience of immigrant families; and the long-term goal for Assari et al's [1] research is to understand the effects of structural racism.…”

“…One exception was Assari et al's paper [1] that focuses on cortical development, representing an emergent trend in developmental and family science to examine the neurological correlates of children and adolescent relationships [10]. Although the peer context is not examined in Assari et al's Children 2021, 8, 831 2 of 5 study [1], the conceptual model guiding the authors' thought-that children's brains and hence reading development are impaired by the consequences of parents' low levels of education-has clear implications for children's adjustment in the peer group, given the empirical links among poor brain development, executive function, academic performance, and peer relation problems [11].…”

“…Existing mid-range models that guide the papers in this Special Issue include the Marginalization and Diminished Returns (MDR) Framework (Assari et al [1]); Coercion Theory (Cox et al [3]); a Risk and Protective Factor Framework (Havewala et al [4]); a Diathesis-Stress Model of Anxious Solitude (Gazelle & Cui [8]); Gateway Theory, Self-Derogation Theory, and Primary Socialization Theory of Substance Use/Abuse (Sigal et al [7]); multiple models of emotion socialization and regulation, including Meta-Emotion Theory, the Tripartite Model of Emotion Regulation, Eisenberg's Emotion Socialization Model, and Gottman's Meta-Emotion Philosophy and Typology of Emotion Socialization (Jespersen et al [2]); and the Extended Process Model (Lindsey [6]).…”

Developmental Cost of Being Asian but Living in the United States: Diminished Returns of Household Income on Cortical Surface Area in 9-10 Year Old Children

“…23 Likewise, in comparison to non-Hispanic White children, Asian American children experience less benefits on cognitive function as measured by reading ability from higher parental educational attainment. 24 Although many Asian Americans are better educated and have higher incomes in comparison to other minorities, it is evident they are not free from experiencing MDRs.…”