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Income disparities in children’s academic and behavioral skills have grown larger over the past 50 years. At the same time, economic segregation across communities has increased, raising questions regarding the role of community factors in explaining income gaps in children’s functioning. Combining geospatial data with longitudinal survey data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 2010–2011, an ethnically diverse, nationally representative sample of kindergarteners (N ≈ 17,600), this project explored how differences in community- and family-level resources and stressors help to explain family income gaps in achievement, executive functioning, and externalizing behaviors in third grade (age 9). Family income had small to medium associations with more community resources and fewer community stressors, which in turn exhibited small associations with parenting practices. These relations helped explain income gaps in children’s functioning. Results have implications for researchers and practitioners focused on narrowing economic skills gaps as well as housing and community planning efforts designed to foster children’s positive development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
