Home environments and young Latino children's school readiness

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Abstract

This exploratory study examined the relations among characteristics of children's home environments and two school readiness skills: their oral language and social functioning. Low SES Latino mothers of 122 (65 girls; 57 boys) preschoolers (39–49 months (M = 45.00; S.D. = 5.40) completed questionnaires about their family demography, their home environments, and their perceived parenting stress. Preschool teachers rated children's social functioning, and children were administered the PPVT-R (or the TVIP). Results of path analyses showed that when controlling for children's age and factors that potentially influence children's opportunities for learning, the relation between parents’ literacy involvement and children's PPVT-R/TVIP scores and social functioning was mediated by children's interest in literacy. In addition, mothers’ perceived parenting stress was directly associated with children's PPVT-R/TVIP scores and social functioning. The findings highlight within-group variations in the home literacy environments of low SES Latino families.

Section snippets

The home environment

To explore how within-group variations in home environments may be associated with positive developmental outcomes for young Latino children, we focused on three characteristics identified in the research literature as possible contributors to children's school readiness (e.g., Burgess, Hecht, & Lonigan, 2002; Foster, Lambert, Abott-Shim, McCarty, & Franze, 2005; Leseman & de Jong, 1998; Teale, 1986): (1) factors that potentially limit children's opportunities for learning, such as family

Parent involvement

Generally, in homes where adults converse and read with their children, there are ample reading materials and books, and adults value literate activities, young children develop oral language skills earlier than do children whose homes do not provide such opportunities (Burgess et al., 2002; Leseman & de Jong, 1998; Lonigan, 1994; Sénéchal, LeFevre, Thomas, & Daley, 1998). More specifically, despite the controversy over the relative effects of shared storybook reading on children's reading

Parenting stress

As mentioned above, children's home environments may be compromised by the stress associated with poverty and crowded living conditions. Mothers’ perception of the stress associated with economic hardship, mental health, and parenting may directly influence the extent to which they are sensitive and responsive to their children and the likelihood they can provide a home environment that is supportive of and conducive to developing children's school readiness skills. The relation between

Child interest

The literature reviewed above suggests that several family factors have a significant impact on shaping the home environment. However, it is possible that children's interest in educational activities also contributes to their literacy-related school readiness skills and to their parent's inclination to engage them in those kinds of activities. For example, it seems reasonable to argue that children who are more interested in literacy activities may persuade their parents to read to them more

The current study

In summary, variations in children's home environments provide different opportunities for children's acquisition of school readiness skills. In our model, we expected that the extent to which parents are involved in literacy-related activities and affective quality of the home environment (as measured by mothers’ perceived parenting stress) would be associated with two school readiness skills: children's social functioning and oral language, when controlling for factors that potentially limit

Participants

The participants were 122 (65 girls; 57 boys) children aged 39–49 months (M = 45.00; S.D. = 5.40) and their mothers. The sample was recruited at a primarily Latino Head Start preschool program which serves an inner-city neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. Parents were informed about the project and their written consent was obtained during meetings held at the preschool. The preschool staff and parents were told that we wanted to learn about children's readiness for school. Participation in the study

Overview of the analyses

Preliminary analyses were first conducted to address several issues which might bias our findings, such as missing values, social desirability, language spoken in the home, and immigration status. Second, we provided some psychometric evidence of the Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire. Third, descriptive statistics and correlations among the variables were computed. Finally, a series of path analyses were conducted to examine how aspects of families’ home literacy environments and

Discussion

The present exploratory study examined how aspects of low-income Latino family environments may be associated with their preschoolers’ receptive vocabulary and social functioning. The results showed that conditions in the home, such as family size and SES are factors which potentially restrict the possibilities for children's development in general. However, these objective conditions should not obscure other potential factors that may help to define alternative and promising paths for

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the participating families and their children and to the preschool program staff.

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