Eric Dearing

Selected Publications

Dearing, E., Bustamante, A. S., Zachrisson, H. D., & Vandell, D. L. (2024). Accumulation of opportunities predicts the educational attainment and adulthood earnings of children born into low- versus higher-income households. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X241283456

Zachrisson, H. D., Dearing, E., Borgen, N. T., Sandsør, A. M. J., & Karoly, L. A. (2024).

Universal early childhood education and care for toddlers and achievement outcomes in middle childhood. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 17:2, 259-287.

Sandsør, A. M. J., Zachrisson, H. D., Karoly, L. A., & Dearing, E. (2023). The Widening Achievement Gap Between Rich and Poor in a Nordic Country. Educational Researcher, 52, https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221142596

Dearing, E., Casey, B., Davis-Kean, P. E., Eason, S., Gunderson, E., Levine, S. C., ... & Susperreguy, M. I. (2022). Socioeconomic Variations in the Frequency of Parent Number Talk: A Meta-Analysis. Education Sciences, 12(5), 312.

Bustamante, A. S., Dearing, E., Zachrisson, H. D., & Vandell, D. (2022). Adult Outcomes of

Sustained High-quality Early Childcare and Education: Do They Vary by Family Income? Child Development, 93 (2), 502-523.

• Inal, Gülbin Sengul; Borgen, Nicolai T.; Dearing, Eric Curtis & Zachrisson, Henrik Daae (2025). The double jeopardy of low family income and negative emotionality: The family stress model revisited. Development and Psychopathology. ISSN 0954-5794. p. 1–18. doi: 10.1017/S0954579424000373. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The family stress model has, for decades, guided empirical work linking poverty with increased risk of child social-emotional dysfunction. The present study extends this line of work by examining whether child negative emotionality moderates associations between family income, family stress (maternal distress, parental locus of control, and relationship dissatisfaction), and later externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. In a longitudinal population-based sample (n ~ 80,000) of Norwegian children followed from birth through age five (The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study; MoBa), we examined whether high (vs. moderate or low) negative emotionality families would display: (a) compounding stress (i.e., particularly strong associations between low family income and family stress), (b) diathesis-stress (i.e., particularly strong associations between family stress and behavior problems), or (c) double jeopardy (i.e., both compounding stress and diathesis-stress moderating effects). Negative emotionality significantly moderated the association between family income and behavior problems in a manner most consistent with double jeopardy. As a result, compared with children with moderate/low negative emotionality, the family income-behavior problems association was two to three times larger for those with higher negative emotionality. These findings underscore the active role children may play in family processes that link low family income with behavior problems.

• Dearing, Eric Curtis; Bustamante, Andres S.; Zachrisson, Henrik Daae & Vandell, Deborah Lowe (2024). Accumulation of Opportunities Predicts the Educational Attainment and Adulthood Earnings of Children Born Into Low- Versus Higher-Income Households. Educational Researcher. ISSN 0013-189X. p. 1–12. doi: 10.3102/0013189X241283456. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Scholars theorize that “opportunity gaps” drive achievement disparities between children born into poverty versus affluence. In a 26-year longitudinal study (N = 814), we examine (a) economic disparity in children’s accumulation of opportunities—from birth through high school—at home, childcare, school, afterschool, and in the neighborhood; (b) the extent to which opportunity is linked with educational attainment and earnings in early adulthood; and (c) whether opportunity is most strongly associated with these adult outcomes for children from low-income households. We document large opportunity gaps between children from low- versus higher-income households. These opportunity gaps are strongly linked with educational attainment and earnings, particularly for low-income children, helping explain why household income in early childhood predicts these outcomes in adulthood.

• Rey-Guerra, Catalina; Yousafzai, Aisha K. & Dearing, Eric Curtis (2023). Gender similarities and differences in early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries. International Journal of Behavioral Development. ISSN 0165-0254. p. 1–11. doi: 10.1177/01650254231217465. Full text in Research Archive
• Zachrisson, Henrik Daae; Dearing, Eric Curtis; Borgen, Nicolai Topstad; Sandsør, Astrid Marie Jorde & Karoly, Lynn (2023). Universal Early Childhood Education and Care for Toddlers and Achievement Outcomes in Middle Childhood. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. ISSN 1934-5747. 17(2), p. 259–287. doi: 10.1080/19345747.2023.2187325. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We estimated the effects of Norway’s universal ECEC program—expanding access to 1- and 2-year-olds starting in the early 2000s—on standardized math and achievement tests in 5th grade (age 10) using a population-based survey sample (Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study, MoBa, n = 102,352), linked with national administrative records of child achievement test scores. We used two methods to test the effects of attending ECEC: fixed-effects and instrumental variable regressions. Although both approaches found small and mostly insignificant main effects, the effect of ECEC is consistently stronger for children from families with low parental education. The fixed-effects analyses showed that ECEC reduced inequalities in achievement across levels of parental education by about 10% while the instrumental variable analyses, using variation in ECEC induced by the expansion, showed reduction of about 50%. These results suggest that expanding access to ECEC for toddlers has the potential to reduce achievement inequality.

• Sandsør, Astrid Marie Jorde; Zachrisson, Henrik Daae; Karoly, Lynn & Dearing, Eric Curtis (2023). The Widening Achievement Gap Between Rich and Poor in a Nordic Country. Educational Researcher. ISSN 0013-189X. 52(4). doi: 10.3102/0013189X221142596. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We study a decade of achievement gaps for fifth-, eighth-, and 10th-grade students in Norway using administrative population data. Norway is a wealthy and egalitarian country with a homogeneous educational system, yet achievement gaps between students at the 90th and 10th percentiles of parental income and between students whose parents have at least a master and at most a high school degree are found to be large (0.55–0.93 and 0.70–0.99 SD), equivalent to about 2 to 2.5 years of schooling, and increasing by grade level. Achievement gaps by parental income, but not by parental education, increased over the time period, underscoring the different ways these two socioeconomic status components relate to achievement and the potential for policy to alter gaps.

• Rey-Guerra, Catalina; Zachrisson, Henrik Daae; Dearing, Eric Curtis; Berry, Daniel; Kuger, Susanne & Burchinal, Margaret R. [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2022). Do more hours in center‐based care cause more externalizing problems? A cross‐national replication study. Child Development. ISSN 0009-3920. 94(2), p. 477–477. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13871. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Whether high quantities of center‐based care cause behavior problems is a controversial question. Studies using covariate adjustment for selection factors have detected relations between center care and behavior problems, but studies with stronger internal validity less often find such evidence. We examined whether within‐child changes in hours in center‐based care predicted changes in externalizing problems in toddlers and preschoolers ( N  = 10,105; 49% female; data collection 1993–2012) in seven studies, including from Germany, Netherlands, Norway, two from Canada and two from the U.S. Race/ethnicity data were only collected in the United States (57% and 80% White; 42% and 13% African‐American; 1.2% and 5% Latinx). Meta‐analyses showed no association ( r  = .00, p  = .88) between hours in center‐based care and externalizing problems.

• Lombardi, Caitlin M. & Dearing, Eric Curtis (2020). Maternal Support of Children’s Math Learning in Associations Between Family Income and Math School Readiness. Child Development. ISSN 0009-3920. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13436. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examined maternal support of children’s math learning at 36 months (n = 140) as a mediator of the association between early childhood family income and children’s counting and calculation skills at 4½ and 6–7 years. Family income was associated with this measure of children’s math school readiness, but the association was almost entirely indirect and mediated by observed maternal support of children’s numerical skills at 36 months. Maternal support of children’s spatial concept and general learning (cognitive stimulation and sensitivity) were not significant mediators of this association. Results suggest that income‐based gaps in counting and calculation skills at school entry may be due in part to the constraints that low family income places on early numerical learning support.

• Ribeiro, Luisa Jacinta Feio Antunes; Casey, Beth; Dearing, Eric Curtis; Nordahl, Kristin Berg; Aguiar, Cecilia & Zachrisson, Henrik Daae (2020). Early Maternal Spatial Support for Toddlers and Math Skills in Second Grade. Journal of Cognition and Development. ISSN 1524-8372. 21(2), p. 282–311. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2020.1717494. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The aim of this study is to investigate whether maternal spatial support during two types of joint manipulative toy play tasks with 2-year-old children was longitudinally associated with math screening test scores in second grade. The interaction between spatial support and maternal education was explored as well. We also investigated predictions of a teacher rating of math performance at second grade, although these effects were less robust. Data were drawn from BONDS (The Behavior Outlook Norwegian Developmental Study), a longitudinal study of Norwegian children and their families. Participants were a subsample of 932 mothers and their 2-year-olds. Mothers were asked to help their children solve both a puzzle task and a shape-color sorting task. Mothers’ spatial support included spatial language, gestures, and placement of objects. Results showed that higher levels of spatial support during mother-child interaction tasks at 2 years of age was significantly associated with fewer math difficulties in second grade. This was the case for a puzzle task (a task associated with spatial visualization skills), but not for a shape-color sorting task (a task associated with shape and color feature discriminations). Conclusions are drawn with respect to the importance of identifying optimal parental spatial strategies associated with better math outcomes. These findings on parental facilitation of spatial skills during joint early play may be useful for future training interventions directed at parents of children at risk for poor math skills.

• Zachrisson, Henrik Daae; Owen, Margaret T.; Nordahl, Kristin Berg; Ribeiro, Luisa & Dearing, Eric Curtis (2020). Too Early for Early Education? Effects on Parenting for Mothers and Fathers. Journal of Marriage and Family. ISSN 0022-2445. doi: 10.1111/jomf.12701. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objective To estimate the effect of children's age of entry into early childhood education and care (ECEC) on parenting quality of mothers and fathers in a context of universal access to subsidized ECEC following a 1 year paid parental leave. Background Children entering non‐parental care settings in early childhood may have negative consequences for parenting quality. Yet, current evidence supporting this claim is predominantly from the United States, is focused almost exclusively on mothers, and is predominantly based on statistical approaches that are vulnerable to unobserved selection bias. Method Data are from a Norwegian longitudinal study, including ratings of observed mother–child (n = 901) and father–child (n = 621) interactions, and children's age of entry into ECEC. Multivariate regression models and instrumental variable models were used to estimate the causal effect of age of entry on parenting quality. Results There was no support for the hypothesis that an earlier age of entry into ECEC negatively affects parenting quality, for either fathers or mothers. This was true for the sample as a whole, and for different sociodemographic subgroups. Conclusion In a Norwegian context in which families have universal access to subsidized ECEC from the time their child is 1 year of age, and most children enter ECEC in their second year, there is no evidence that an earlier age of entry in ECEC harms parenting quality.

• Dearing, Eric Curtis & Zachrisson, Henrik Daae (2019). Taking Selection Seriously in Correlational Studies of Child Development: A Call for Sensitivity Analyses. Child Development Perspectives (CDP). ISSN 1750-8592. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12343. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Correlational studies have played a major role in building our cumulative knowledge on child development. Yet as a result, we often have difficulty making causal inferences. The concern is selection effects: When children have not been randomly assigned to conditions, pre-existing biological, psycho- logical, or social factors may bias correlations. In this article, we draw attention to sensitivity analyses, statis- tical techniques for estimating the robustness or fragility of results in light of potential selection effects. We high- light the coefficient of proportionality method recently developed by Oster (2019), which does not require assumptions about the number of omitted selection vari- ables. The coefficient of proportionality provides an indication of how large the impact of unobserved selec- tion factors would need to be—relative to observed covariates—to nullify a result. We offer two empirical examples to demonstrate the value of this method com- pared with other approaches used by child development researchers.

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