Cumulative risk models provide a convenient, parsimonious way to identify outcomes associated with multiple, highly correlated risk factors. In this paper, we explored linkages between a cumulative sociodemographic risk index, which included rurality status, and aspects of temperamental difficulty in an early school age sample of 53 school-aged children from Southcentral Appalachia. Cumulative risk was significantly predictive of temperamental difficulty, as defined by high negative affectivity and low effortful control, but post-hoc analyses revealed this association to be driven primarily by two of the eight risk indicators: rural status and income-to-needs risk. Although rurality status was highly correlated with income-to-needs risk, rurality predicted negative affectivity over and above income-to-needs risk and income-to-needs risk predicted effortful control over and above rurality status. Future models of cumulative risk may benefit from including rurality status as a risk indicator, despite high collinearity with income-to-needs risk.

累积风险模型提供了一种简便，简约的方式来识别与多个高度相关的风险因素相关的结果。在本文中，我们探讨了南苏丹阿巴拉契亚州53名学龄儿童的早期学龄期样本中累积的社会人口统计学风险指数（包括农村状况）与气质困难方面之间的联系。累积风险可显着预测气质困难，如高负面情感和低下努力控制所定义，但事后分析表明，这种关联主要由八个风险指标中的两个驱动：农村状况和收入需求风险。尽管乡村状况与收入需求风险高度相关，农村人口对收入和需求风险的负面影响超过预期，而收入对需求的风险预测了对农村状况的控制力度。尽管与收入-需求风险具有高度共线性，但未来的累积风险模型可能会受益于将农村身份作为风险指标。