In an at-risk preschool sample, 6% were identified as resilient, with maternal education a key protective factor and nonverbal intelligence, but not executive function, predicting resilience status (reported by the editors, citing Muñez et al.)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Latent growth mixture modelling identified 6% of the at-risk sample as resilient, showing higher initial math achievement and stronger growth; maternal education emerged as a key protective factor. → van Viersen 2026 q2 i? Nonverbal intelligence, but not executive function, predicted resilience status. → van Viersen 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

van Viersen 2026¶

van Viersen, S., Psyridou, M., & Torppa, M. (2026). General introduction to the special issue on resilience in learning. Learning and Instruction, 101, Article 102254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102254

q2 · i? · review · r2

The editors report, citing Muñez et al. (2025), a latent growth mixture modelling analysis of preschool mathematics resilience in which "6% of the at-risk sample could be identified as resilient" with higher initial levels and stronger growth.

"Using latent growth mixture modelling, they found that 6% of the at-risk sample could be identified as resilient; despite their high risk for learning difficulties, this group broke the trend compared to their similar risk peers, showing higher initial levels of math achievement as well as stronger growth."

van Viersen 2026 (2)¶

van Viersen, S., Psyridou, M., & Torppa, M. (2026). General introduction to the special issue on resilience in learning. Learning and Instruction, 101, Article 102254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102254

q2 · i? · review · r2

The editors report, citing Muñez et al. (2025), that nonverbal intelligence predicted resilience status while executive function did not, and that maternal education, "as a proxy for the home learning environment", was the key protective factor.

"While nonverbal intelligence, but not executive function, predicted resilience status, maternal education (as a proxy for the home learning environment) emerged as a key protective factor for the resilient developmental trajectory of preschoolers."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Formal math activities in the home environment mitigated the risk of parental math difficulties for children's math development (reported by the editors, citing Torppa et al.) — related
• Resilience should be conceptualized as a process rather than an outcome of development, with environmental factors playing an essential role alongside individual risk and resilience factors (Parrila's discussion, as reported by the editors) — a broader claim this one bears on
• Semantic abilities act as the key protective factor against the negative effect of reading fluency impairments on reading comprehension, especially in low SES contexts (reported by the special issue editors, citing Lefèvre et al.) — related
• Children with developmental language disorder and strong verbal reasoning could partly compensate delays in mathematics at the individual level, though group-level analyses revealed no protective effects (reported by the editors, citing Kleemans et al.) — related
• Emerging reading and math resilience literatures suggest candidate resilience factors across cognitive, emotion/motivation, social/environmental, and neural levels, most not yet classified as promotive or protective — related
• Protective factors attenuate the effects of risk as risk rises, producing gap-closing effects represented analytically as Risk × Protective Factor interactions — related