Contexts of African American Children’s Early Writing Development: Considerations of Parental Education, Parenting Style, Parental Beliefs, and Home Literacy Environments

Abstract

This study examined associations among parenting style, parents’ literacy beliefs, home literacy practices, and children’s emergent writing skills. A total of 190 African American parents with varied educational experiences and their preschool-aged child participated. Parents completed a survey designed to examine their parenting practices and beliefs, while children were assessed directly on name writing and invented spelling skills. Findings suggest that African American parents’ educational backgrounds and parenting styles provide an important context for understanding the nature of their literacy beliefs and formal and informal home literacy practices. Authoritative parenting styles were positively related to both formal (parental teaching of writing and reading skills) and informal (sharing books with children) home literacy experiences. Authoritarian parenting was associated with parental teaching of writing and reading skills in the home. Parent report of teaching of writing and reading skills at home was associated with children’s invented skills but not their name writing skills. Parental education was positively associated with parental literacy beliefs but not related to informal and formal home literacy experiences. Parental literacy beliefs were positively related to children’s name writing and invented spelling skills. The frequency by which these parents teach reading and writing in their homes and the types of literacy beliefs they espouse are related to their children’s writing skills.