Identifying Family and Classroom Practices Associated With Stability and Change of Social-Emotional Readiness for a National Sample of Low-Income Children

Abstract

Among a nationally representative sample of 2,529 Head Start children, patterns of social-emotional readiness were identified at the beginning and end of children's first preschool year. This study documented that although the majority of children remain in a qualitatively similar social-emotional readiness profile across the year, 34% of children move to a qualitatively different profile reflecting improvements and declines in social-emotional functioning. Child and family attributes (e.g., child age, disability status, and maternal education), as well as contextual factors (e.g., weekly parent home involvement) were significant predictors of these classification patterns, and parents' involvement in educational activities at home significantly moderated transitions among the profiles.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Data for this study came from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), FACES 2006 cohort, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation. Data were made available to the authors through a cooperative agreement with Child Care and Early Education Research Connections, as part of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (University of Michigan). We would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr. John Geldhof for his guidance related to the statistical analyses.