Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Adults
Reading to Two Year Old Children:
A Population-based Study
Olivia Sappenfield
Emory University School of Public Health
Office of Family Health, Oregon Public Health Division
Ken Rosenberg, MD, MPH
Office of Family Health, Oregon Public Health Division
Oregon Public Health Association annual meeting
October 10, 2011
1
Introduction
• Education is associated with a person’s health
– People with low literacy have 1.5 to 3 times higher risk of
poor health outcomes than people whose literacy is not
low1
• Reading aloud to children is associated with
education
– Children who are read to at age 2 are more likely to read
well in third grade2
– Third graders who don’t read at grade level are more at
risk for poor educational performance3-6
2
Risk factors associated with adults reading
to children every day
•
•
•
•
Education
Income
Have more books at home
Birth order
– First > Second > Third
•
•
•
•
References 7-12
Books at home (including library books)
History of family literary practices
Support from pediatric provider
Maternal depression
3
Racial/Ethnic Disparities
Previous research has found:
• Black and Hispanic Parents are less likely to read to
their children than white parents7-13
• Spanish speaking families have fewer children’s
books at home7
• Spanish speaking families are more likely to never
read to their children than non-Spanish speaking
families13
4
Methods
• Research Question: Is there an association between
maternal race/ethnicity and reading to a two year
old every day?
• Dataset: 3 linked datasets:
• 2004-2005 Oregon Birth Certificate
• 2004-2005 PRAMS and
• 2006-2008 PRAMS-2
– 1911 Participants
• 37 did not answer read to child question
• 6 did not answer race/ethnicity question
– Final Sample: 1868 Mothers
5
Methods
• Outcome: Whether the mother or someone else in
her household read to her two year old every day
• Covariates: Maternal race/ethnicity, maternal
nativity, birth order, maternal age, household
income, maternal education, maternal depression,
childcare, marital status, whether mother lives with
another adult, time child spent watching TV
• Weighted bivariate analysis determined covariates
for model
• Multivariate logistic regression used for final model
6
Results
• 62.4% of respondents reported reading to their
child every day
• Hispanic and Black mothers were the least likely to
report reading to their child every day
7
Table 1. Racial/ethnic disparities in reading to two year old children every day, Oregon PRAMS2, 2004-2005 birth cohorts (n=1868)
Characteristic
n**
Read to child everyday
(weighted)***
Multivariate OR
(95% CI)
Total
1868
62.40%
-
White*
819
71.60%
Referent
Hispanic
358
34.10%
0.30 (0.20, 0.44)
Black*
186
38.80%
0.32 (0.21, 0.48)
AI/AN*
218
53.90%
0.58 (0.39, 0.87)
Asian/ Pacific Islander*
287
58.40%
0.39 (0.27, 0.57)
Maternal race/ethnicity
(birth certificate):
*non-Hispanic
**weighted number
***weighted percent
Controlling for poverty status, maternal age, birth order and
maternal education
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Discussion
• Significant racial/ethnic disparities among mothers
reading to two year old children
– Hispanic and Black mothers are less likely to report
reading to their children every day compared to White
mothers
– Hispanic and Black mothers were more likely to report
low income, low education and low maternal age
• Among minority groups, American Indian mothers
were the most likely to report reading to their two
year old every day.
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Reading to Hispanic Children
• Some parents may have limited access to bilingual
or Spanish resources
• Some have discomfort reading in English
• Some believe they should wait until child is 5 years
old
• Some do not consider reading a leisure activity
• Some parents believe the school is responsible for
teaching their child to read
10
Reading to Black Children
• More likely to be a single parent household
• Black mothers may be more stressed than other
mothers
• Residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood impedes
academically relevant verbal skills
• Racial discrimination
– Disciplined more harshly
– Feel less capable
– Diversion of resources/fewer resources in largely black
schools
– Difficulty in job and housing market
11
Reading to American Indian/Alaska
Native Children
• Oral tradition
– Story telling as an effective tool to change behavior
– Instills cultural values and allows reclamation of native
language
• Governmental support for programs that improve
literacy among the AI/AN population
– Early Head Start
• Value of children
– Investing in children secures the tribe’s future
12
Interventions
• Reach Out and Read
– Trains pediatric providers to provide instruction and advice
on reading to children
– Give books at every pediatric visit from 6 months to 5 years
– Volunteers in waiting rooms to model reading to children
– Families participating in ROR score higher on language
development exams
• Early Head Start
– Serves low income families from birth to three years
– Provide parent-child activities, home-visits, development
plans and adult education
– EHS children score higher on language and cognitive tests
– Improves parental support for literacy development and
daily reading
13
Conclusion
• Results help us understand other factors that
influence educational outcomes
• Reading to children is an effective tool to improve
academic performance
• Other cultural factors affect parents reading to their
children
• Programs developed for early childhood education
need to be culturally sensitive
• Future efforts should focus on testing interventions
on a large scale
14
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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Sénéchal M, LeFevre J. Parental involvement in the development of children’s
reading skill: a five-year longitudinal study. Child Development 2002;73(2):445460.
Lloyd D.N. Prediction of school failure from third-grade data. Educational and
Psychological Measurement 1978;38(4):1193-1200.
Neisser U., ed. Poor readers: teach, don’t label. The School Achievement of
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Berlin G. & Sum A. Toward a more perfect union: Basic skills, poor families, and
our economic future. New York, N.Y: Ford Foundation; 1988.
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high school dropouts: examining multiple predictors across development. (1999).
Journal of School Psychology 2000;38(6):525-549.
Raikes H., Luze G., Brooks-Gunn J., et al. Mother-child bookreading in lowincome families: Correlates and outcomes during the first three years of life.
Child Development 2006;77(4):924-953.
Cameron C.A., Pinto G. A day in the life: Secure interludes with joint book
reading. Journal of Research in Childhood Education 2009;23(4):437-449.
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References Con’d
9. Duursma E., Pan B.A., Raikes H. Predictors and outcomes of low-income fathers’
reading with their toddlers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 2008;23:351-365.
10. Kuo A.A., Franke T.M., Regalado M, Halfon N. Parent report of reading to young
children. Pediatrics 2004;113(6):1944-1951.
11. Bigatti S.M., Cronan T.A., Anaya A. The effects of maternal depression on the
efficacy of a literacy intervention program. Child Psychiatry and Human
Development 2001;32(2):147-162.
12. Luomo I., Tamminen T., Kaukonen P., et al. Longitudinal study of maternal
depressive symptoms and child well-being. Journal of the American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2001;40(12):1367-1374.
13. Flores G., Tomany-Korman S.C., Olson L. Does disadvantage start at home? Racial
and ethnic disparities in health-related early childhood home routines and safety
practices. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 2005;159:158-165.
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