This study draws on the nationally representative British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70) to examine (1) the association between social background and early socio-emotional and cognitive competences at age 5 and (2) the relative and independent contributions of early socio-emotional and cognitive competences to educational and socio-economic attainment in adulthood. A multi-dimensional (multiple exposure, multiple outcome) approach is adopted in conceptualising social background, childhood competences and adult outcomes by age 42. Indicators of social background include parental education, social class, employment status, family income, as well as home ownership, enabling us to test which aspects of socio-economic risk uniquely influence the development of early competences. Indicators of childhood competences include directly assessed cognitive competences (i.e. verbal and visual motor skills), while measures of socio-emotional competences include hyperactivity, good conduct, emotional health and social skills, reported by the child’s mother at age 5. Adult outcomes include highest qualifications, social class and household income by age 42. The findings suggest that multiple indicators of social background are associated with both socio-emotional and cognitive competences, although the associations with socio-emotional competences are less strong than those with cognitive competences. We find significant long-term predictive effects of early cognitive skills on adult outcomes, but also independent effects of socio-emotional competences, in particular self-regulation, over and above the role of family background. The study supports calls for early interventions aiming to reduce family socio-economic risk exposure and supporting the development of cognitive skills and self-regulation (i.e. reducing hyperactivity and conduct problems).

中文翻译：

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幼儿能力的社会不平等，以及社会和情感与认知技能在预测成人结果中的相对作用

本研究利用具有全国代表性的英国出生队列研究 (BCS70) 来检查 (1) 社会背景与 5 岁时早期社会情感和认知能力之间的关联，以及 (2) 早期社会情感和认知能力的相对和独立贡献。对成年期教育和社会经济成就的认知能力。在概念化社会背景、童年能力和 42 岁时的成人成果时，采用多维度（多重曝光、多重结果）方法。社会背景指标包括父母教育、社会阶层、就业状况、家庭收入以及房屋所有权，使我们能够测试社会经济风险的哪些方面独特地影响早期能力的发展。儿童能力指标包括直接评估的认知能力（即语言和视觉运动技能），而社会情感能力的衡量标准包括多动、良好行为、情绪健康和社交技能，由孩子的母亲在 5 岁时报告。成人成果包括最高42 岁前的资格、社会阶层和家庭收入。研究结果表明，社会背景的多项指标与社会情感和认知能力相关，尽管与社会情感能力的相关性不如具有认知能力的相关性强。我们发现早期认知技能对成人结果的显着长期预测影响，以及社会情感能力的独立影响，特别是自我调节，超越家庭背景的作用。