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Contextual risks, child problem-solving profiles, and socioemotional functioning: Testing the specialization hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2021

Zhi Li*
Affiliation:
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Rochester & Mt. Hope Family Center, Rochester, NY, United States
Patrick T. Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States
*
Corresponding author: Zhi Li, email: zhi.li@pku.edu.cn

Abstract

Guided by the evolutionary perspective and specialization hypothesis, this multi-method (behavioral observation, questionnaire) longitudinal study adopted a person-centered approach to explore children’s problem-solving skills within different contexts. Participants were 235 young children (M age = 2.97 years at the first measurement occasion) and their parents assessed in two measurement occasions spaced one year apart. Latent profile analyses revealed four unique problem-solving profiles, capturing variability in children’s performance, and observed engagement in abstract vs. reward-oriented (RO) problem-solving tasks at wave one. The four profiles included: (a) a high-abstract-high-RO, (b) a high-abstract-low-RO, (c) a low-abstract-high-RO, and (d) a low-abstract-low-RO classes. Contextual risks within and outside families during wave one, including greater neighborhood crime, impoverishment, and observed lower maternal sensitivity were linked to the elevated likelihood for children from the two profiles with low-abstract problem-solving, particularly those from the low-abstract-high-RO problem-solving profile. Furthermore, child problem-solving profiles were linked to meaningful differences in their socioemotional functioning one year later. The present finding has important implications in revealing the heterogeneity in child problem-solving within different contexts that responded differently to contextual risks. In addition, this study advanced the understanding of the developmental implications of child problem-solving capacity.

Type
Regular Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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