Latina Mothers' School Preparation Activities and Their Relation to Children's Literacy Skills

Abstract

Few studies have examined the link between children's early school achievement and parents' at-home practices exclusively among Latino groups. This study examined the relation between Latina mothers' reported at-home practices regarding school preparation and their children's literacy skills. Participants included 56 kindergarten children and their mothers from the School Transition Study. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that mothers' practices in the social rather than academic domain were positively associated with children's literacy skills in the spring of kindergarten and that children's classroom engagement partially mediated these relations. Implications for building supportive partnerships among Latino families, teachers, and schools are discussed.

Key words:

• parental involvement
• school transitions
• early literacy skills
• Latino school achievement
• home–school connections
• Latino studies

Notes

^aFamily income is an ordinal variable: 1 = $3000–$6000, 2 = $6001–$9000, 3 = $9001–$12,000, 4 = $12,001–$15,000, 5 = $15,001–$20,000, 6 = $20,001–$30,000, 7 = $30,001–$40,000, 8 = $40,001–$50,000.

^bMaternal education is an ordinal variable: 1 = no formal schooling, 2 = less than 9th grade, 3 = less than 12th grade, 4 = high school diploma, 5 = some college, 6 = associate's or bachelor's degree.

^cLiteracy skills is a composite score derived from standard scores; the mean is statistically close to zero.

^† p < .10.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

***p < .001.

^aTransformed engagement variable used in all regression models.

^† p < .10.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

***p < .001.