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# An enriched Head Start programme improved 7 of 11 well-being measures at ages 21 to 22
- URL: https://www.coios.me/an-enriched-head-start-programme-improved-7-of-11-well/
- Published: 2026-09-20T00:08:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-20T00:42:40.000Z
- Description: A randomised trial that added intensive social-emotional and language support to Head Start classrooms for 356 low-income four-year-olds found benefits on 7 of 11 well-being measures at ages 21 to 22, including loneliness, depressive symptoms and conduct problems.
- Author: Daniel Ryan
- Tags: Behavioural science, Social connection, United States, #peer-reviewed, #new, #item, #source-2026-09

A total of 356 children in low-income US families were randomised at a mean age of 4.5 to Head Start classrooms enriched with intensive social-emotional learning and language support, or to usual practice, and reassessed at ages 21 to 22\. The intervention group scored better on 7 of 11 young-adult well-being measures, including loneliness, depressive symptoms, empathy, emotional support and life satisfaction, and the intervention weakened the association between adverse childhood experiences and social adjustment.

*Why it is interesting: A randomised test of whether loneliness in early adulthood can be shifted by an intervention delivered some 17 years earlier, in a single trial of 356 children.*

Source

[American Psychologist, 17 September 2026](https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001765?ref=coios.me)

DOI

10.1037/amp0001765

Type

Peer-reviewed article

Design

Randomised controlled trial of enriched Head Start preschool, n=356 children enrolled at mean age 4.5, followed to ages 21-22

Verdict

New finding

Driver

[Social connection](https://www.coios.me/d-social-connection/)