Improving how we measure child socioeconomic disadvantage: a more holistic and contextual approach

Developmental science has made great strides in understanding how child social and economic circumstances, including material, environmental, economic, or psychosocial stressors, shape outcomes. More recently, developmental scientists have argued we need to operationalize socioeconomic disadvantage clearly and consistently and in a more sensitive and holistic way. However, there is a need to bring together these perspectives to understand how we should operationalise and measure socioeconomic disadvantage in ways that are both context-sensitive and precise, striking a balance between mechanistic insight and policy relevance. This paper highlights three ways in which we can develop a more holistic, comprehensive and inclusive understanding of how socioeconomic disadvantage shapes child development. We propose that measures of socioeconomic circumstances should be meaningful to the population under study and their ecological context; that multiple pathways should be considered; finally, we should strive to capture heterogeneity in family circumstances which includes strengths, as well as hidden costs.