Abstract
Prior evidence supports that the home environment is related to children’s development of school readiness skills. However, it remains unclear how construct- and timing-specific aspects of the home environment are related to children’s school readiness skills, unique from overall, stable aspects of home quality. Unpacking associations due to specific constructs and timing of the home environment may provide insights on the theoretical processes that connect the home environment to school readiness. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364), the current study examines how timing (36 and 54 months) and constructs (educational stimulation and socio-emotional responsivity) of the home environment, relative to overall levels across time, relate to children’s language skills, math skills, and externalizing behaviors. The overall, stable aspects of the home environment were significantly associated with children’s language skills and externalizing problems. Additionally, there were significant paths from the stimulation construct at 54 months to math skills, language skills, and externalizing problems. These findings provide evidence that although the overall home environment is predictive of school readiness, the stimulation construct of the home environment at 54 months has additional concurrent relations to children’s school readiness. Implications for the role of the home environment and children’s school readiness are discussed.
Highlights
Preschoolers’ language ability, math skills, and externalizing behaviors are key indicators of school readiness and are predictive of children’s success in the formal school environment (Ramey and Ramey, 2004; High, 2008)
The current study extends previous literature by examining the extent to which associations between the home environment and preschooler’s math, language, and externalizing behaviors vary as a function of specific constructs and the specific timing (i.e., 36 and 54 months) of the home environment relative to overall, stable levels across time
All HOME scales were significantly correlated with one another and significantly correlated with each of the three school readiness skills
Summary
Preschoolers’ language ability, math skills, and externalizing behaviors are key indicators of school readiness and are predictive of children’s success in the formal school environment (Ramey and Ramey, 2004; High, 2008). The current study examined the associations between children’s early home environments and school readiness skills (i.e., math, language, externalizing behaviors). We examine to what extent these associations vary as a function of specific constructs (i.e., educational stimulation and socio-emotional responsivity) and specific timing (i.e., 36 and 54 months) of the home environment relative to overall, stable aspects of home quality. Educational stimulation is a specific aspect of the home environment that refers to experiences that promote cognitive development (e.g., parent encouraging child to read and learn numbers). Socio-emotional responsivity is a specific aspect of the home environment that refers to experiences that support socioemotional development (e.g., parent praising child). Addressing these issues will provide insight into how the home environment contributes to children’s school readiness. This study examines the relative associations due to the specific timing of experiences (i.e., 36 and 54 months) that go beyond what is common across time
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