Cultural capital theory: a study of children enrolled in rural and urban Head Start programmes

Abstract

Children from different backgrounds have disparate access to cultural capital, which may influence their academic success. The purpose of this study was to examine the links between family background, home literacy experiences, and emergent literacy skills among preschoolers enrolled in Head Start programmes. The background characteristics studied included urbanicity, maternal education, ethnicity, and family size among 112 preschool children (59 rural and 53 urban, M age = 56.78 months). Findings showed that rural and urban preschoolers may have similar literacy abilities. However, when maternal education was controlled for, family background variables and components of the home literacy environment predicted emergent literacy skills differently for the two groups. Moreover, mother's active involvement and the child's own engagement in literacy seemed to play a salient role in early literacy development across groups.

Keywords:

• Head Start
• urban
• rural
• home literacy environment
• cultural capital theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Kathryn E. Bojczyk, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Early Childhood Education Program at The Catholic University of America. Her current research interests focus on children's emergent literacy skills including links between home literacy experiences and vocabulary development. Additionally, she studies individual differences in vocabulary acquisition and has conducted longitudinal investigations of vocabulary development in young children from low-income families and children at high risk for language disabilities.

Heather Rogers-Haverback, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at The Catholic University of America in the Department of Education. Dr Rogers Haverback is certified to teach grades 1-6 and K-12 as a Reading Specialist. She has experience teaching in grades 3-9 in Japan, Ireland, Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia. She has worked extensively with children in the areas of reading and vocabulary for the past 15 years. Her current research interests include young adult literacy, context clues, preservice teachers' efficacy, and domain specific efficacy beliefs and knowledge.

Hye Pae, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psycholinguistics and Applied Linguistics in the Literacy and Second Language Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati. Her current research interests focus on prevention and intervention for reading difficulties, assessment challenges across cultures, and reading disabilities in children and adult learners.

Anna E. Davis is currently a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Children, Families, and Cultures at The Catholic University of America. Her research interests include early childhood mental health, family-focused preventative interventions, and socioeconomic disparities.

Rihana S. Mason, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Emmanuel College. Her current research interests include individual differences in reading and vocabulary acquisition. She is particularly interested in how diversity affects cognitive processing in children and adults. She uses a variety of methods including eye movement monitoring and academic assessments.

Notes

1. Another MANOVA was also run including the TERA-3 meaning variable. Since the Box M was significant, Pillai's Trace test was used, which showed a similar results to Wilk's Lambda: Pillai's Trace test = .15, F(5, 106)  = 3.65, p < .01, multivariate η²= .15