Parent–Child Book-Reading Styles, Emotional Quality, and Changes in Early Head Start Children’s Cognitive Scores

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to understand how instructional book-reading style and emotional quality of reading interact and relate to cognitive skills in a sample of at-risk infants and toddlers. Participants were 81 parents and their children participating in Early Head Start programs in the rural Midwest. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis that parental book-reading instructional style and emotional quality interact and relate to changes in children’s cognitive scores for culturally and linguistically diverse families. Results included that there were variations in how book-reading qualities interacted and related to changes in child cognitive scores for families whose primary home languages were either English or Spanish. Practice or Policy: The results of this study are discussed in conjunction with findings from a previous study published in this journal that examined concurrent relationships in the same sample of Early Head Start families. Combined, findings of these studies underscore a need to further explore potentially complex patterns of relationships among parental literacy behaviors and child knowledge, concurrently and across time, for culturally and linguistically diverse families. Better understanding these patterns could inform the development and implementation of culturally sensitive intervention approaches designed to support high-quality parent–child book reading.

Funding

The development of this article was supported by Grant No. 1R01H00436135 awarded to Drs. Susan Sheridan and Carolyn Pope Edwards by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Administration for Children and Families and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. It was also supported by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant No. 90YR0028 awarded to Keely D. Cline and Carolyn Pope Edwards. The opinions expressed herein are our own and do not reflect the views of the funding agencies.

Additional information

Funding

The development of this article was supported by Grant No. 1R01H00436135 awarded to Drs. Susan Sheridan and Carolyn Pope Edwards by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Administration for Children and Families and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. It was also supported by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant No. 90YR0028 awarded to Keely D. Cline and Carolyn Pope Edwards. The opinions expressed herein are our own and do not reflect the views of the funding agencies.