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Excessive Heat Harms Young Children's Development, Study Suggests
https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2025/december/-excessive-heat-harms-young-children-s-development--study-sugges.htmlResearch on three- and four-year-olds in different countries examined the impact of temperature on childhood milestones
Dec 8, 2025
by Jade McClain
Climate change—including high temperatures and heat waves—has been shown to pose serious risks to the environment, food systems, and human health, but new research finds that it may also lead to delays in early childhood development.
Published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the study found that children exposed to higher-than-usual temperatures—specifically, average maximum temperatures above 86 °F (30 °C)—were less likely to meet developmental milestones for literacy and numeracy, relative to children living in areas with lower temperatures.
“While heat exposure has been linked to negative physical and mental health outcomes across the life course, this study provides a new insight that excessive heat negatively impacts young children’s development across diverse countries,” says lead author Jorge Cuartas, assistant professor of applied psychology at NYU Steinhardt. “Because early development lays the foundation for lifelong learning, physical and mental health, and overall well-being, these findings should alert researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to the urgent need to protect children’s development in a warming world.”
…
They found that children who were exposed to average maximum temperatures above 86 °F (30 °C) were 5 to 6.7 percent less likely to meet basic developmental milestones for literacy and numeracy compared to children exposed to temperatures lower than 78.8 °F in the same region and season. These effects were more pronounced among children from economically disadvantaged households, households with less access to clean water, and from urban areas.
…
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70081Dec 8, 2025
by Jade McClain
Climate change—including high temperatures and heat waves—has been shown to pose serious risks to the environment, food systems, and human health, but new research finds that it may also lead to delays in early childhood development.
Published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the study found that children exposed to higher-than-usual temperatures—specifically, average maximum temperatures above 86 °F (30 °C)—were less likely to meet developmental milestones for literacy and numeracy, relative to children living in areas with lower temperatures.
“While heat exposure has been linked to negative physical and mental health outcomes across the life course, this study provides a new insight that excessive heat negatively impacts young children’s development across diverse countries,” says lead author Jorge Cuartas, assistant professor of applied psychology at NYU Steinhardt. “Because early development lays the foundation for lifelong learning, physical and mental health, and overall well-being, these findings should alert researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to the urgent need to protect children’s development in a warming world.”
…
They found that children who were exposed to average maximum temperatures above 86 °F (30 °C) were 5 to 6.7 percent less likely to meet basic developmental milestones for literacy and numeracy compared to children exposed to temperatures lower than 78.8 °F in the same region and season. These effects were more pronounced among children from economically disadvantaged households, households with less access to clean water, and from urban areas.
…