Children’s social and emotional development is crucial for lifelong success, with early functioning strongly predicting adult wellbeing and achievement (e.g. Jones et al., 2015). In addition to its importance, its determinants have been extensively researched. The best available research and data have been synthesised to develop evidence-based interventions to achieve positive outcomes for children and families.
However, most of the available evidence comes from high-income contexts. In contrast, an estimated 250 million children under the age of five years—those at particularly high risk of not reaching their developmental potential—face poverty, poor health and nutrition, and a lack of access to developmentally stimulating environments (McCoy et al., 2016). The majority of these children live in low-income countries (Draper et al., 2024). For example, children born in Ghana today are projected to reach, on average, only 45% of their productivity potential by the age of 18, compared to a benchmark of full health and complete education (The World Bank, 2023).
This study aims to identify unique correlates of social and emotional development among rural preschool-aged children in Ghana, an under-studied, high-risk context. Using a bioecological framework, we examine child-, mother-, and household-level factors in a large sample. Our findings aim to highlight malleable factors that could inform interventions to improve children’s experiences and social and emotional development, particularly in low-income settings during the early years of schooling.