Several studies suggest that neighborhood deprivation is a unique risk factor in child and adolescent development of problem behavior. We sought to examine whether previously established intervention effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) on child conduct problems at age 7.5 would persist through age 9.5, and whether neighborhood deprivation would moderate these effects. In addition, we examined whether improvements in parent-child interaction during early childhood associated with the FCU would be related to later reductions in child aggression among families living in the highest risk neighborhoods. Using a multisite cohort of at-risk children identified on the basis of family, child, and socioeconomic risk and randomly assigned to the FCU, intervention effects were found to be moderated by neighborhood deprivation, such that they were only directly present for those living at moderate versus extreme levels of neighborhood deprivation. In addition, improvements in child aggression were evident for children living in extreme neighborhood deprivation when parents improved the quality of their parent-child interaction during the toddler period (i.e., moderated mediation). Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the possibilities and possible limitations in prevention of early problem behavior for those children living in extreme and moderate levels of poverty.

Abstract: This longitudinal study of low‐income families tested neighborhood‐, family‐, and child‐centered promotive factors in early childhood, responses to an early family intervention, and their interactions as predictors of school‐entry levels of and early school‐age gains in academic skills. Using a racially‐diverse, low‐income sample (n = 527) from a randomized controlled trial of the Family Check‐Up (FCU) intervention and Bayesian multilevel regression modeling, we tested whether neighborhood cohesion, positive mother–child engagement, and child self‐regulation in early childhood (ages 2–5 years) and their interactions with FCU group assignment predicted the intercept and slope of academic skills across child age 5, 7.5, and 8.5 years. Higher positive mother–child engagement and child self‐regulation predicted higher academic skills at school entry. An interaction between the FCU intervention and positive mother–child engagement predicted gains in academic skills compared to national norms. The findings suggest the FCU intervention leveraged positive mother–child engagement in early childhood to promote academic skills, offering a potential avenue from which to prevent income achievement gaps before school entry.

Several studies suggest that neighborhood deprivation is a unique risk factor in child and adolescent development of problem behavior. We sought to examine whether previously established intervention effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) on child conduct problems at age 7.5 would persist through age 9.5, and whether neighborhood deprivation would moderate these effects. In addition, we examined whether improvements in parent-child interaction during early childhood associated with the FCU would be related to later reductions in child aggression among families living in the highest risk neighborhoods. Using a multisite cohort of at-risk children identified on the basis of family, child, and socioeconomic risk and randomly assigned to the FCU, intervention effects were found to be moderated by neighborhood deprivation, such that they were only directly present for those living at moderate versus extreme levels of neighborhood deprivation. In addition, improvements in child aggression were evident for children living in extreme neighborhood deprivation when parents improved the quality of their parent-child interaction during the toddler period (i.e., moderated mediation). Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the possibilities and possible limitations in prevention of early problem behavior for those children living in extreme and moderate levels of poverty.