Parental Stress Correlate Children’s Cognitive Ability

Abstract

Early childhood is a critical time period for cognitive development, and children exposed to adverse familial stress may impair child cognitive development. Therefore, my hypothesis is parents with a greater stress index will be correlated to higher levels of oxidative stress biomarker-F2 Isoprostane, and lower levels of executive function and language development in their biological children. The tests administered to assess children's cognitive ability mainly focus on the domains of executive function and language development. We also collected parent-child urine samples to assess parent-child oxidative stress biomarker (F2 Isoprostane) levels, and administered psychological stress questionnaires to the parent. For this research, parent stress will be analyzed from responses on the Parent Stress Index-IV questionnaire. All scores will be compared between the child participants aged three to six on executive function and language measures (N=103).