Parenting and School Readiness among Low-Income Preschoolers
Laura D. Pittman, Adeya Richmond, Jillian M. Wickery, Suzanne G. Venteau,
Danielle M. Baran, & Marcos D. López
Longitudinal Regressions Predicting Time 2
Academic Achievement and Self Regulation
Quantitative Achievement
Parenting Variable
B (SE B)
Autonomy Granting
.48 (1.35)
.03
.39 (1.26)
Cognitive Stimulation
-.86 (0.32)
-.22**
Connectedness
4.06 (1.29)
Emotional
Responsiveness
3.74 (1.48)
R2
B
Reading Achievement
B (SE B)
F-Ratio
B
.03
-.05 (.05)
-.34 (0.25)
-.12
.23**
1.26 (1.05)
.14*
4.52 (1.75)
7.29
Internalizing Problem
Behaviors
Self Regulation
B (SE B)
.37***
Longitudinal Regressions Predicting Time 2
Internalizing, Externalizing and Positive Behaviors
B
Externalizing Problem
Behaviors
Parenting Variable
B (SE B)
B
B (SE B)
-.06
Autonomy Granting
-.05 (.08)
-.05
-.08 (.06)
-.07
-.02 (.04)
-.04
-.03 (.01)
-.19**
Cognitive Stimulation
.02 (.02)
.09
.00 (.01)
.02
-.01 (.01)
-.04
.10
.03 (.04)
.04
Connectedness
.01 (.06)
.01
.06 (.06
.06
.11 (.05)
.27**
.08 (.08)
.08
Emotional
Responsiveness
.02 (.07)
.01
.07(.07)
.06
-.07 (.07)
.62***
R2
.36***
8.16
16.53
Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001. The following covariates are not shown in table: Time 1
child outcome, child’s age, gender, and race; mothers’ age, education and marital status; family
income-to-needs ratio; and language used in the observation.
.41***
F-Ratio
B (SE B)
.37***
12.41
8.18
B
.19*
-.09
.27***
6.15
Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001. The following covariates are not shown in table: Time 1
child outcome, child’s age, gender, and race; mothers’ age, education and marital status; family
income-to-needs ratio; and language used in the observation.
Child Age x Connectedness Predicting
Change in Internalizing Behaviors
Child Age x Autonomy Granting Predicting
Change in Reading Achievement
1.85
70
1.8
68
1.75
1.7
66
1.65
64
1.6
62
1.55
1.5
60
1.45
58
-1 SD
+ 1 SD
1.4
-1 SD
Methods
+ 1 SD
Maternal Autonomy-Granting Behaviors
Older children
Mother-Child Connectedness
Younger children
Older children
Younger children
Child Age x Emotional Responsiveness
Predicting Change In Internalizing Behaviors
Child Age x Autonomy Granting Predicting
Change in Reading Achievement
1.85
70
Change in Internalizing
Behaviors
1.8
68
1.75
Change in Reading
Achievement
• At Time 1, 2,402 families were recruited and completed interviews as
part of Welfare, Children and Families: A Three-City Study. At Time 2,
88% of families were retained and interviewed on average 16 months
later. Both waves of the main survey included caregiver interviews and
direct academic assessments of focal children.
• During both time points, families with a 2- to 4-year-old focal child at
Time 1 were asked to participate in an Embedded Developmental
Study (EDS). Of those eligible, 82% and 88% agreed to participate
during Times 1 and 2, respectively. Those who participated at both time
points of the EDS were used in the current study (N = 458). During
each wave of the EDS, mother-child dyads participated in a 5-minute
Block Free Play and a 10-minute Puzzle Task (Chase-Lansdale et al.,
1989) and the child participated in several tasks to assess self
regulation (adapted from Kochanska et al., 1996).
Measures
• Reading and quantitative achievement were assessed via subtests
from the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-educational Achievement BatteryRevised (Woodcock & Mather, 1989).
• Self regulation was assessed using a composite score based on
behaviors during multiple self regulation tasks (i.e., Snack Delay, Gift
Wrap, Turtle-Rabbit, and Shapes; see Li-Grining, in press).
• Children’s internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors were
assessed via the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach,1991; 1992)
• Maternal reports of children’s social competence were assessed using
the Positive Behaviors Scale (Quint, Bos, & Polit, 1997).
• Parenting dimensions (i.e., autonomy granting, cognitive stimulation,
connectedness, and emotional responsiveness; Pittman, Wickery, &
Richmond, 2006; Wakschlag & Keenen, 2001) were coded based on
behaviors observed during the videotaped mother-child interactions.
Analysis Plan
• Regression analyses were conducted examining whether the four
observed parenting dimensions predicted child outcomes at Time 2,
controlling for the corresponding outcomes at Time 1 as well as
multiple demographic characteristics.
• To examine the possible moderating influence of children’s age on the
link between parenting and child outcomes, four interaction terms were
added to the above models (i.e., child’s age x each of the four
parenting variables).
B
Positive Behaviors
Change in Internalizing
Behaviors
• Due to recent educational policy changes, school readiness (i.e., being
prepared to enter kindergarten across multiple domains) has been a
focus of research (e.g., Pianta & Cox, 1999).
• Evidence abounds that children from low-income families often are not
ready to enter kindergarten, lagging behind their more affluent peers in
terms of pre-reading and mathematical skills, self-regulatory behaviors,
and emotional adjustment (e.g., Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 1997).
• Parents play an important role in preparing their children for
kindergarten. Although there is much research linking specific aspects
of parenting to child outcomes (e.g., Bornstein, 2002), rarely are
multiple aspects examined simultaneously to compare their importance
in predicting different indicators of school readiness.
• This poster will examine how maternal warmth, autonomy-granting, and
cognitive stimulation influence school readiness over time among a
sample of ethnically diverse, low-income children.
Results
Sample Characteristics
Age of child at time 1: M=42.42 months; SD=10.74 months
Age of caregiver at time 1: M=30.5; SD=10.73
Biological mother to child: 83%
Change in Reading
Achievement
Introduction
1.7
66
1.65
1.6
64
Descriptives and Correlations among Parenting Variables
1.55
62
1.5
1.45
60
1.4
Descriptives
Correlations
1.35
58
-1 SD
Mean
SD
Range
1
2
3
2.44
.87
1-5
2. Observed Cognitive Stimulation
6.14
4.29
0-21.2
3. Block Play Mother-Child Connectedness
3.23
9.40
1-5
4. Puzzle Task Emotional Responsiveness
2.41
7.27
1-4
1
-1 SD
+ 1 SD
Emotional Responsiveness
Maternal Autonomy-Granting Behaviors
4
Older children
1. Autonomy Granting
+ 1 SD
-.352**
-.099*
.74
1
.339
.060
1
.328*
N=451; *p<.05; **p<.01
All analyses were weighted using probability weights, making the findings
generalizable to our population of inference, children in the three cities with
household incomes less than 200% of the poverty line.
1
Younger children
Older children as compared to younger children
benefited from increased levels of autonomy
granting in the development of academic
achievement (B=-.11, p=.06 for quantitative
achievement; B=-.20, p<.01 for reading
achievement).
Discussion
• Parenting behaviors seem to make some difference in the development of
children’s school readiness, but sometimes not in expected ways.
• Mothers who actively tried to cognitively stimulate their children during the
block free play had children who had lower rates of change in quantitative
achievement and self regulation over time. Perhaps these mothers
emphasize cognitive stimulation too much, stifling their child’s natural
intellectual curiosity.
• Maternal warmth and responsiveness seem to benefit children in both their
development of academic achievement and social competence over time.
Thus, showing affection and responding to children in a supportive manner
may be important to emphasize to parents in intervention programs among
low-income families.
• The influence of various parenting behaviors appears to be moderated by
child’s age. Older children, and not younger children, have greater increases
in academic achievement over time when their parents allow for more
autonomy in their interactions. Further exploration of the moderating effect of
child’s age on the link between warmth and responsiveness and children’s
internalizing problems is needed as the findings were contradictory.
• Further investigation of how these one-time observations of parenting are
linked to ongoing parenting behaviors is warranted to better understand their
link to child outcomes.
Older children
Younger children
Younger children as compared to older
children had decreasing levels of internalizing
behaviors over time when maternal emotional
responsiveness was higher (B=.15, p<.01).
However, older children as compared to
younger children had decreasing levels of
internalizing behaviors at higher levels of
mother-child connectedness (B=-.16, p<.05).
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