Early childhood inequalities: the rocky path from observation to action

The article on early childhood inequalities by Cattan and colleagues identifies a broad range of socio- and geo-demographic correlates of children’s cognitive and social–emotional development in early life through analyses of three UK population cohort studies. The findings suggest that early life inequalities are driven by a complex nexus of multiple, often inter-correlated factors that each have a small independent effect size. In this commentary, I discuss three key implications for research and practice that follow from the work of Cattan et al.: (1) the urgent need for a theoretical framework to identify and test the mechanisms that drive early life inequalities; (2) the persistent obstacles to ameliorating early childhood inequality; and (3) the immense value of population cohort studies for understanding socio-historical trends and developing evidence-based policies.