Interplay of socioeconomic status, cognition, and school performance in the ABCD sample

The impact of socioeconomic disadvantage on educational trajectories is well-documented, yet some individuals demonstrate academic resilience, succeeding despite adverse circumstances. This study aims to explore the interplay between SES, cognitive abilities, and school performance to understand the factors contributing to academic resilience. The research question focuses on whether individual cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status interact in their effect on grades. The importance of this study stems from the need to identify protective factors that can mitigate the negative effects of low SES on educational attainment. Understanding these interactions can inform targeted interventions to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged children. This study utilizes a large, longitudinal dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, providing a robust sample size and the ability to assess the relationships across time.

Extensive research demonstrates a strong link between socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement across various age groups and cultures. Low SES during childhood and adolescence is associated with increased risks for mental health and behavioral problems, while high SES correlates with higher quality of life and healthier lifestyles. The strength of this association appears consistent over time in some regions, while others show a weakening trend. Cognitive abilities, encompassing skills like reasoning, memory, and attention, are key factors influencing both SES and academic achievement. Prior research shows that cognitive abilities, particularly verbal and non-verbal skills, can mediate the relationship between SES and school performance. However, some studies show no significant effect of SES on school achievement once intelligence is controlled for. The complexity of this relationship is highlighted by the influence of various other factors, including subject areas, school types, ethnicity, gender, personality, and motivational factors. While low SES can hinder academic success, the phenomenon of academic resilience shows that some students thrive despite such disadvantages. Protective factors associated with academic resilience include self-efficacy, planning skills, low anxiety, and persistence, as well as supportive home, classroom, and school environments. Previous work has explored the relationship between SES and academic achievement on a country level, but less attention has been paid to the interaction at the individual level. This research addresses this gap, particularly focusing on the potential of cognitive ability to moderate the relationship between SES and school performance.

This study utilized data from a subset of 5001 participants (2656 boys, 2345 girls; mean age = 9.98 years, SD = 0.6) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Inclusion criteria required complete baseline neurocognitive data, self-reported school performance at both the 2- and 3-year follow-ups, and baseline SES data (parental education, household income, neighborhood deprivation). Cognitive performance was assessed using a composite score from the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery, summarizing performance across seven cognitive tasks. Socioeconomic status was measured using three indicators: parental education (highest level of education attained by either parent, treated as continuous), income-to-needs ratio (household income divided by federal poverty guidelines, treated as continuous), and area deprivation index (ADI, national percentiles, treated as continuous). School performance was based on self-reported grades (A+, A, B, C, D, F), recoded into five levels (A, B, C, D, Fail). Ordinal logistic regression models were employed to examine the associations between SES indicators and self-reported grades at both timepoints. Separate models were first fitted for each timepoint. Then additional models included interaction terms between the composite cognition score and each SES indicator, to assess whether the effect of SES on grades varied according to cognitive ability. A post-hoc analysis modeled interactions between the three SES indices and timepoint to assess the stability of associations over time. All analyses were conducted in R (version 4.2.2), with predictor variables scaled prior to analysis. The parallel regression assumption was verified using the Brant test.

Analysis revealed similar patterns of association between the three SES measures (parental education, income-to-needs ratio, and ADI) and grades at both the 2-year and 3-year follow-ups. At both timepoints, the odds of obtaining a higher grade increased with higher levels of parental education and income-to-needs ratio (Tables 1 and 2). Neighborhood deprivation (ADI) was significantly associated with grades at both timepoints only when cognitive ability was not included in the model. The post-hoc analysis showed significant main effects of parental education, income-to-needs ratio, and ADI on grade, and a significant effect of timepoint (grades were higher at 2-year follow-up than 3-year). However, interaction effects between SES indices and time were non-significant (Table 3). Further models examined interactions between cognitive ability and each SES indicator (Tables 4 and 5). At both timepoints, a significant interaction was observed between cognitive ability and parental education level. Children with higher cognitive ability benefited more from having well-educated parents. The interaction between cognitive ability and the other SES measures was not significant. The inclusion of cognitive ability in the models improved model fit compared to models without cognitive ability (p < 0.001 for both timepoints). Comparing socioeconomic status between high-performing and low-performing groups revealed that the high-performing group was socioeconomically more advantaged (higher income, parental education, and less deprived neighborhoods). This aligns with the Matthew effect, where initial advantages lead to further gains.

This study provides evidence of the significant influence of SES on school performance, consistent with previous literature. The findings highlight the sustained effect of parental education and income-to-needs ratio on grades, regardless of cognitive ability. The interaction between parental education and cognitive ability indicates that higher cognitive ability might offer a degree of protection against the negative impact of low parental education. However, the small effect size of this interaction suggests a complex relationship beyond simple linear models. The lack of significant interaction effects between SES and time indicates that the influence of SES does not necessarily increase as academic demands become more challenging. This might suggest the development of metacognitive strategies with age, compensating for some of the effects of socioeconomic background. The study's findings are consistent with the Matthew effect, suggesting that initial advantages from a socioeconomic perspective accumulate. Limitations include the reliance on self-reported grades and the ABCD sample's socioeconomic skew, potentially limiting the generalizability to low-SES populations. Future research should examine the long-term effects of SES and cognitive abilities across a wider range of socioeconomic backgrounds and involve objective measures of school performance. The interplay of SES, cognition, and school performance is complex and warrants further investigation.

This study contributes to a better understanding of the interplay between socioeconomic status, cognitive abilities, and school performance. While SES significantly predicts academic achievement, the results suggest that cognitive abilities can interact with parental education, potentially buffering the negative consequences of low SES on grades. However, these interactions are not robust, indicating the importance of considering the multifaceted nature of academic success. Future research with larger, more diverse samples, and objective academic measures should explore this complex relationship further. Addressing socioeconomic disparities in education requires comprehensive strategies that support children from disadvantaged backgrounds, promoting cognitive development and fostering a supportive educational environment.

The study's reliance on self-reported grades is a limitation, as self-reports may not accurately reflect actual academic performance. The ABCD sample's overrepresentation of high-SES families restricts the generalizability of findings to lower SES populations. The nested data structure of the ABCD data (students within the same schools) was not statistically accounted for in the analyses, due to missing school identification data for a large portion of the sample. The high correlation between the SES indicators might affect the interpretation of the unique contributions of each variable to school performance.