Relations between early family risk, children's behavioral regulation, and academic achievement

doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2010.02.005

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Volume 25, Issue 4, 4th Quarter 2010, Pages 464-479

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2010.02.005 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examined relations among early family risk, children's behavioral regulation at 54 months and kindergarten, and academic achievement in first grade using data on 1298 children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Family risk was indexed by ethnic minority status, low maternal education, low average family income from 1 to 54 months, and high maternal depressive symptoms from 1 to 54 months. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that minority status, low maternal education, and low family income had significant negative effects on reading, math, and vocabulary achievement in first grade. Modest indirect effects were also found from ethnicity, maternal education, and maternal depressive symptoms, through 54-month and kindergarten behavioral regulation to first-grade achievement. Discussion focuses on the importance of behavioral regulation for school success especially for children facing early risk.

Section snippets

Family risk factors as predictors of academic achievement

Children who experience risk factors during early childhood are more likely to start school unprepared, which can result in later school failure (Burchinal et al., 2006, Gutman et al., 2003, Luster and McAdoo, 1994, Raver, 2004). This is particularly evident for children who experience multiple family risk factors or risk factors over long periods of time (Huffman et al., 2000, Laucht et al., 1997, Rutter, 1979, Wachs, 2000). Although a number of studies have illuminated links between proximal

Children's behavioral regulation, family risk, and academic achievement

Behavioral regulation falls under the broader self-regulation construct and is defined as the ability to apply cognitive skills such as attention, working memory, and inhibitory control, to behavior. Behavioral regulation includes skills such as focusing and maintaining attention on tasks, following instructions, and inhibiting inappropriate actions (McClelland et al., 2007b, Morrison et al., 2010). Other researchers have used terms such as executive function (e.g., Blair and Razza, 2007,

Purpose and hypotheses

The overall goal of this study was to chart direct and indirect pathways among early family risk factors, behavioral regulation, and first-grade academic achievement (see Fig. 1). In particular, we sought to explore the individual contributions of minority status, maternal education, family income, and maternal depressive symptoms on children's behavioral regulation and early academic outcomes. In addition, the relations between behavioral regulation at 54 months and kindergarten, and

Study design

The present study utilizes data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (see http://secc.rti.org). The NICHD study is a multi-site, prospective longitudinal study of 1364 children and their families in the United States. The present analysis examined data from birth through first grade.

Participants

Children and families were recruited during the first 11 months of 1991 from hospitals in or near 10 locations across the United

Results

Descriptive statistics are listed in Table 2, Table 3. As expected, early family risk factors (including Black ethnicity, maternal education, income-to-needs ratio, and maternal depressive symptoms) were significantly correlated with reading, math, and vocabulary, with higher risk indicating lower achievement. In addition, family risk factors were significantly correlated with behavioral regulation at 54 months and in kindergarten in that higher risk was related to lower skill levels. Aspects

Discussion

Findings from the present study demonstrated that Black and Hispanic ethnic minority status, low maternal education, low family income, and longer periods of high maternal depressive symptoms were negatively related to achievement in first grade directly and indirectly through a child's behavioral regulation in preschool and kindergarten. In addition, the link between behavioral regulation at 54 months and children's first-grade academic achievement was through children's kindergarten

Conclusion

The present study found that a number of family risk factors shaped a child's first-grade academic achievement and highlights the importance of behavioral regulation for early school success. Minority status, low maternal education, and low family income had significant negative effects on reading, math, and vocabulary achievement in first grade. In contrast, longer periods of high maternal depressive symptoms had a small but significant negative indirect effect on achievement through

Acknowledgements

Funding for this study was supported by Oregon State University, the National Institute of Child and Human Development, and the National Science Foundation under grant numbers R01, HD025449 and 0111754.

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Relations between early family risk, children's behavioral regulation, and academic achievement

Abstract

Section snippets

Family risk factors as predictors of academic achievement

Children's behavioral regulation, family risk, and academic achievement

Purpose and hypotheses

Study design

Participants

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Journal of School Psychology

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Intelligence

Developmental Review

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Early Education and Development

Working with missing values

Journal of Marriage and the Family

The dropout process in life course perspective: Early risk factors at home and school

Teachers College Record

Family resources and the development of child competence

Journal of Marriage & the Family

Children of affectively ill parents: A review of the past 10 years

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten

Child Development

Influence of maternal depressive symptoms on ratings of childhood behavior

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

Socioeconomic status and child development

Annual Review of Psychology

The home environments of children in the United States. Part I: Variations by age, ethnicity, and poverty status

Child Development

Maternal psychological functioning, family processes, and child adjustment in rural, single-parent, African American families

Developmental Psychology

Social risk and protective child, parenting, and child care factors in early elementary school years

Parenting: Science and Practice

The emergence of self-regulation: Biological and behavioral control mechanisms supporting toddler competencies

Reading Achievement Gaps, Correlates, and Moderators of Early Reading Achievement: Evidence From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) Kindergarten to First Grade Sample

Journal of Educational Psychology

Long-term prediction of academic achievement of American, Chinese, and Japanese adolescents

Journal of Educational Psychology

Preschool instruction and children's emergent literacy growth

Journal of Educational Psychology

Poverty during early childhood

Children's reading and math achievement in kindergarten and first grade (NCES 2002-125)

Preschool program improves cognitive control

Science

Academic and cognitive functioning in first grade: Associations with earlier home and child care predictors and with concurrent home and classroom experiences

School Psychology Review

Children of depressed parents: A integrative review

Psychological Bulletin

School readiness and later achievement

Developmental Psychology

Economic deprivation and early childhood development

Child Development

How to select, calculate, and interpret effect sizes

Journal of Pediatric Psychology

The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models

Structural Equation Modeling

The environment of childhood poverty

American Psychologist

An integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children

Child Development

Income is not enough: Incorporating maternal hardship into models of income associations with parenting and child development

Child Development

Predicting developmental outcomes at school entry using a multiple-risk model: Four American communities

Developmental Psychology

Social skills rating system

Academic growth curve trajectories from 1st grade to 12th grade: Effects of multiple social risk factors and preschool child factors

Developmental Psychology

Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children's school outcomes through eight-grade

Child Development

Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children

Motivation and self-regulation as predictors of achievement in economically disadvantaged young children

Journal of Experimental Education

Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives