Stress has been linked with children’s socioemotional problems and lower language scores, particularly among children raised in socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances. Much of the work examining the relations among stress, language, and socioemotional functioning have relied on assessments of a single dimension of maternal stress. However, stress can stem from different sources, and people may appraise stressors differently. Taking a dimensional approach, this manuscript characterizes stress in multiple ways: as an overall composite; across the constructs of psychological appraisal vs. environmental stressors; and the independent contributions of a variety assessments. Data are from 548 mother–infant dyads (M = 13.14 months, SD = 2.11) who served as the control group for a poverty reduction clinical trial. Mothers completed questionnaires regarding the different types of stresses they may have experienced, as well as their children’s language and socioemotional development. Results indicate that, collectively, higher maternal report of stress is associated with lower reports of children’s socioemotional and language development. In addition, maternal psychological appraisals of stress were associated with both socioemotional and language development, whereas reports of environmental stressors were only associated with socioemotional development. Together, these findings suggest that maternal reports of stress are associated with lower maternal report of child development among low-income children.

压力与儿童的社会情感问题和较低的语言成绩有关，尤其是在社会经济不利环境中长大的儿童。许多研究压力、语言和社会情感功能之间关系的工作都依赖于对母亲压力单一维度的评估。然而，压力可能来自不同的来源，人们可能会以不同的方式评估压力源。采用维度方法，这份手稿以多种方式描述压力：作为一个整体复合；跨越心理评估与环境压力因素的结构；以及各种评估的独立贡献。数据来自 548 个母婴对（M = 13.14 个月，SD= 2.11) 作为减贫临床试验的对照组。母亲们完成了关于她们可能经历过的不同类型的压力以及她们孩子的语言和社会情感发展的问卷调查。结果表明，总的来说，较高的母亲压力报告与较低的儿童社会情感和语言发展报告相关。此外，母亲对压力的心理评估与社会情感和语言发展有关，而环境压力源的报告仅与社会情感发展有关。总之，这些研究结果表明，母亲对压力的报告与低收入儿童中较低的儿童发育报告有关。