Supporting Early Social‐Emotional Competencies Through Reading and Play: Findings From an RCT of the Tiered Smart Beginnings Program

Social‐emotional competence is critical to children's social and school success, prompting interest in understanding factors that promote these skills prior to elementary‐school. Cognitive stimulation (e.g., reading, playing) is related to preschool children's social outcomes; However, few studies have examined these associations earlier, or determined whether interventions that encourage cognitive stimulation may enhance children's early social‐emotional competencies either directly, or through impact on these behaviors. The present study examined whether cognitive stimulation in infancy predicted social competence in toddlerhood and the impact of a positive parenting intervention on these child outcomes. Mother–infant dyads in the Smart Beginnings (SB) RCT (primarily Hispanic/Latino or Black and from low‐income backgrounds) were randomly assigned to treatment or control. SB integrates universal primary prevention in pediatric primary care (PlayReadVIP); and targeted/secondary prevention through home visiting (Family Check‐Up). Mothers’ cognitive stimulation at 6 months significantly predicted children's social‐emotional competence at 24 months. Although there was no direct effect of SB on children's social‐emotional competence, there was an indirect effect on children's social competence through maternal cognitive stimulation. Findings suggest that associations between cognitive stimulation and children's social‐emotional competence emerge earlier than previously shown, and that positive parenting interventions can support early social‐emotional competence through impact on cognitive stimulation. Trial Registration : ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02459327