Parenting, Race, and Socioeconomic Status: Links to School Readiness

This study examined the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and school readiness, testing whether parenting (maternal sensitivity and negative behavior/intrusiveness) and financial stress mediated this association and if race moderated these paths. Participants included 164 mother-child dyads from African American and European American families. Findings supported moderated mediation hypotheses: maternal sensitivity mediated the link between SES and school readiness for European Americans only; maternal negative/intrusive behaviors mediated the link between SES and school readiness for both European Americans and African Americans. These results indicate that the meaning and effects of parenting behaviors can vary by racial groups, and findings obtained for European American families cannot be assumed to apply to ethnic minority families as well. Among the implications of these findings is that programs aimed at increasing school readiness and closing the achievement gap need to be mindful of the cultural context in which children are raised.Key Words: parenting, race, school readiness, socioeconomic status.The achievement gap continues to be a national concern, as low-income and ethnic minority children perform at levels below those of children from higher income families and European American children. The economic impact of the achievement gap is tremendous; the McKinsey & Company (2009) report notes that the persistence of these achievement gaps would be the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession. Federal funding of early education programs designed to enhance school readiness among at-risk children (due to race and income) is one way social policies are working to combat the achievement gap (e.g., Head Start). Consideration of the home environment, however, children's first learning context, is critical when exploring strategies to address the achievement gap, especially in light of research showing that these gaps are evident prior to when children begin formal schooling (Lee & Burkham, 2002). A recent report released by Child Trends (Halle et al., 2009) documents income, racial, and ethnic gaps as early as 9 and 24 months in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, a nationally representative sample of children. Yet, processes explaining the origins of these gaps remain unclear. Thus, research is needed that explores the processes through which income and race are linked to children's school readiness.There is no one agreed upon definition of school readiness, as researchers have defined school readiness in many ways, including children's cognitive skills, socioemotional skills, and attentional skills (Duncan et al., 2007). In the present study, the focus is on children's cognitive skills, specifically pre-academic knowledge in children 36 months of age, the age at which many children begin to attend preschool and early learning programs such as Head Start. Guided by the ecological model (Bronfenbrenner & Crouter, 1983) the current study posited that socioeconomic status and financial stress are distal factors that will be indirectly associated with children's pre-academic knowledge through their association with the proximal variables of parenting behaviors. Further, some researchers suggest that the meaning of certain aspects of parenting may vary by ethnicity (Garcia Coll, 1990). Therefore, the present study investigated whether race moderated the links between socioeconomic status, parenting, and pre-academic knowledge. That is, are the paths linking socioeconomic status (SES), parenting, and pre-academic knowledge similar or different between African American and European American families?Socioeconomic Status and School ReadinessResearchers investigating school readiness have often considered the role of SES. Although there is no one agreed upon definition of SES, scholars have conceptualized SES as income, education, occupation, welfare recipient, or some combination of these factors. …