Elliott, Leanne
(2019)
How Low-SES Parents Support Children's Academic Skill Development.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
A long history of empirical research demonstrates that socioeconomically disadvantaged children begin school behind their peers and that enrichment activities in the home environment mediate these disparities. This work overlooks the considerable heterogeneity in the parenting practices of low-SES families. This dissertation examined home enrichment practices among low-SES families in greater detail to obtain a nuanced view of the experiences and challenges facing these children at risk of falling behind their peers academically. In Study 1, I used data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2009) to examine predictors of additional variability in parental enrichment, over and above income and education, among a large sample of low-income families using both variable-centered and person-centered analyses. I found that characteristics such as children’s vocabulary and behavioral skills, parent marital status and age, and family residential mobility, explained small but significant portions of additional variance in home enrichment, but the unique accumulation of these factors in latent profile analyses rarely contributed additional information. In Study 2, I explored these issues in greater detail through in-depth, qualitative interviews with a small sample of low-SES parents of young children. Parents described their enrichment activities in the home and any challenges or barriers that interfere with enrichment activities. All parents described substantial challenges in attempting to provide opportunities for learning with their young children but also noted a variety of methods to overcoming these challenges. Together, these results suggest that many low-SES parents’ behaviors are related to other factors in the family system (e.g., child interest or behaviors) and that survey-based measures of the frequency of enrichment activities may not appropriately capture how these parents engage in learning activities with their children.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
20 June 2019 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
2 April 2019 |
| Approval Date: |
20 June 2019 |
| Submission Date: |
7 April 2019 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
157 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
home learning environment; individual differences; mixed methods; socioeconomic status; strengths-based |
| Date Deposited: |
20 Jun 2019 15:09 |
| Last Modified: |
20 Jun 2019 15:09 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/36394 |
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