Latino Home Learning Opportunities, Parental Growth Mindset, and Child Academic Skills

ABSTRACT

Associations between home learning opportunities, parental growth mindset (the belief that intelligence is malleable), and children’s academic skills have been documented primarily in European descent communities. Less is known about other communities. This study examined associations among home learning opportunities, parental mindsets, and child academic skills in a sample of 107 Latino parents and their kindergartners (M age = 67 months; 51% girls). Home learning opportunities were measured via a survey that included conventional learning practices (e.g. book sharing) and food practices (e.g. mealtime conversations). Parental mindsets were assessed through a widely used mindset scale. Child academic skills were assessed using standardized and non-standardized tests. Research Findings: Parental growth mindsets positively related to food practices (β = 0.29) and there was suggestive evidence that food practices positively related to child expressive vocabulary (β = 0.35). Conventional learning practices and parental growth mindset did not relate to child outcomes. Practice or Policy: If replicated in larger samples, findings suggest that Latino parents might view food practices as prime learning opportunities for their children. In addition, results suggest that food practices might foster Latino children’s academic skills. Findings have the potential to inform family interventions targeting Latino families.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all children and families who participated in this project. They also thank Angela Febles, Yarelin Rivera, Danielle Mayall and the undergraduate student research assistants who made this work possible. Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado is now at an educational consulting firm. Anna Shapiro is now at RAND Corporation.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, D.L. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Supplementary Data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2023.2190291

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Brady Education Foundation, Davidson College, and the Institute of Education Sciences under Grants No. R305B150012 and R305B170015.