Promoting Resilience with Social-Emotional Learning: Young Adult Follow-up of a Preschool Randomized-Controlled Trial

Abstract

Young adults are experiencing emotional distress at unprecedented levels, with rates of loneliness, social isolation, and poor mental health especially high among those marginalized by economic hardship. Individuals who experience exposure to adverse experiences during childhood face heightened vulnerability, indicating a need to enhance early developmental supports. Public investment in early childhood education provides a unique opportunity to strengthen social-emotional supports for children at socioeconomic risk. This longitudinal study evaluated the impact of enriching Head Start classrooms with intensive support for social-emotional learning (SEL) and language development on the young adult well-being of children growing up in low-income families. A randomized-controlled trial including 356 children (25% Black, 17% Latinx, 58% White, 54% female, 46% male, Mage = 4.49 years at study entry) evaluated the effects of enriched relative to “usual practice” Head Start; follow-up assessments extended through early adulthood (age 21–22 years). Significant benefits favoring the intervention group emerged on 7 of 11 measures of young adult well-being, including conduct problems, depressive symptoms, loneliness, empathy, emotional support, healthy days, and overall life satisfaction. Latent profile analyses showed the preschool intervention increased the likelihood of displaying a profile reflecting higher (rather than lower) young adult well-being. Greater exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predicted diminished adult well-being but intervention buffered the impact of ACEs on social adjustment. Findings suggest that enriching preschool with intensive evidence-based SEL and language support can leverage public investments in early education and enhance the long-term well-being of vulnerable children growing up in poverty.