Cognitive resilience and vulnerability to socioeconomic disadvantage: Predictors across individual, family, school, and neighborhood contexts

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/2kew7_v2
• Publication Date: 2025-02-14T18:35:23Z
• Authors: Deena Shariq; Rachel R Romeo; Arianna M Gard
• Keywords: Vulnerability; Disadvantage; Resilience; Family Resilience

Though much research links socioeconomic disadvantage to cognitive difficulties during adolescence, many youth demonstrate resilience. Person-centered approaches can be used quantify this developmental heterogeneity and challenge deficit-centered frameworks. This study leverages person-centered data-driven methods characterize in a socioeconomically diverse dataset of early adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ Study (N = 9,839; 47.7% female sex; Mage 9.90 years; 46.7% White). Four profiles based on access resources (SER) multi-domain functioning were identified, including two characterized by moderate-to-high-SER (74.5%) low-SER (25.5%). Among environments, 88.6% demonstrated performance scores similar with moderate-to-high SER (“cognitive resilience”), whereas 11.4% markedly lower relative other (i.e., 1.3 2.3 SD below sample mean; “cognitive vulnerability”). Ridge regression identified ecological factors associated profile membership at individual level within family, neighborhood, school contexts. Suburban residence (odds ratio [OR] 1.30), advanced pubertal maturity (OR 1.20), bilingualism 1.14), greater caregiver monitoring 1.10) most strongly lower-SER youths’ resilient versus vulnerable profile. Results emphasize need frameworks investigating adversity-exposed identifying context-specific risk protective factors.