AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN LIVING IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: AN INVESTIGATION OF EARLY LITERACY AND THE INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRENGTHS AND FAMILY SUPPORT

AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN LIVING IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: AN INVESTIGATION OF EARLY LITERACY AND THE INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRENGTHS AND FAMILY SUPPORT By Pia M. Stanard, M.S. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010. Major Director: Micah L. McCreary, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychology Literacy is a basic fundamental skill for academic, professional, and social success in our culture. Children with low exposure to reading can experience reading difficulties, diminished cognitive development, and poor academic outcomes. Inconsistency in the conceptualization of early literacy has hampered research and development of successful, translational early literacy interventions, particularly for children from low-income households. Preschoolers from low-income, urban backgrounds (n = 426), including 221 females and 205 males aged 35 60 months (M = 47.46, SD = 6.44) participated in an investigation of the latent factorial structure of early literacy. The study also explored whether children’s psychological strengths and their family’s literacy-related behaviors support improvement of early literacy skills following completion of a literacy development intervention. Results support a three-factor model of early literacy proposed by Senechal, LeFevre, Smith-Chant, and Colton (2001). This study also found that, despite the influence of age, sex, and family income, children’s psychological strengths and family literacy behaviors are predictive of early literacy skills comprised of this three-factor structure. However, only children’s psychological strengths predicted improvements in early literacy scores at post-test. Implications for preschool interventions and measurement of early and family literacy constructs are discussed. African American children living in urban environments: An investigation of early literacy and the influence of psychological strengths and family support Acquisition of literacy skills at an early age is important for successful academic, professional, and social development. Reading success provides fundamental skills on which other academic, professional, and socio-cultural tasks are built, and is predictive of academic success (North Central Regional Educational Lab, 2002). Early reading ability can influence the amount of interaction children have with print during formative years and, later, in adolescence and early adulthood (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997). Reading success gives confidence to attempt new challenges in the classroom and beyond [Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children (CPRDYC), 1998]. On the other hand, consistently low exposure to reading materials hampers cognitive development due to the countless missed opportunities for learning that would be available during a lifetime of reading (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997). Given the developmental trajectory of literacy, language, academic skills, and their influences, it is important that all children have the opportunity to achieve reading success. Without intervention, children with literacy difficulties or without access to reading materials often continue being challenged throughout their school years. Early literacy interventions aim to provide the groundwork for academic success in kindergarten and beyond. Implementation and evaluation of these interventions tend