Early Head Start and African American families: Impacts and mechanisms of child outcomes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2012.07.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Persistent disparities exist between African American children and their European American counterparts across developmental domains. Early childhood intervention may serve to promote more positive outcomes among African American children. The current study examined whether and how the Early Head Start (EHS) program benefited African American children at the end of the program, when they were 36 months of age, as well as the parenting these children experienced and how this affected their developmental outcomes. The data show a wide and strong pattern of impacts of EHS for African American children and families. Path analysis yielded findings that suggested a direct effect of EHS on specific child outcomes and parenting processes within this group of African American families. Parental supportiveness and cognitive stimulation emerged as important direct influences on African American children's outcomes and as pathways through which Early Head Start benefits these children. These findings are discussed in the context of early childhood intervention practice.

Highlights

► We examine the impacts of Early Head Start on African American families and the mechanisms by which these impacts are achieved. ► There is a strong and broad pattern of benefits of Early Head Start for African American children and parents. ► Early Head Start has a direct effect on African American children's sustained attention and interpersonal engagement. ► Parental supportiveness is an important pathway through which Early Head Start affects African American children's outcomes.

Section snippets

Developmental outcomes of African American children

A preponderance of evidence points to adverse developmental outcomes for African American children. Health disparities are evident in African American children's higher rates of infant mortality and morbidity (Crum et al., 2005, Weese-Mayer et al., 2003) and increased likelihood of illness and lack of health care (Chen, Martin, & Matthews, 2006). Further, African American children lag behind their European American peers in regard to cognitive, language, and academic skills (Barbarin, 2004,

Participants

In the first two years of EHS funding, 17 sites were selected to be a part of the national, cross-site evaluation. A purposive sampling strategy was undertaken to select the sites to be included in the EHS national evaluation, in order to have all program approaches, regions of the country, and characteristics of families represented. Primary caregivers eligible for EHS (i.e., from low-income families) were enrolled who were either pregnant or had children less than 12 months of age.

A total of

Program benefits for African American EHS participants

We used regression procedures to estimate program impacts, controlling for baseline demographic factors as well as site, using an intent-to-treat approach. We present impacts for the African-American sample compared to its respective control group. Table 2 includes the mean outcome for the program group, the mean outcome for the control group, the N and standard deviations, the estimated impact with significance level, and the size of the impact in effect size units for each variable. Effect

Discussion

The goal of the current study was to examine the unique benefits of EHS for African American children and their families, and the potential mechanisms through which these were achieved. We were particularly interested in documenting any parenting processes that affected child outcomes directly, and that mediated the effect of EHS on African American children.

Conclusions

The goal of this study was to explore the benefits of an early childhood program begun during infancy on African American families. Given the many disparities between the developmental outcomes of African American children and their European American counterparts, it is important to build an evidence base relative to interventions that could potentially enhance the developmental trajectories of African American children. The current study documented that Early Head Start seems to be

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