Parent-Child Relationships and Engagement at School Entry: Mediating and Interactive Associations Across Contexts

• In Event: Parental Support of Engagement and Achievement: Mediating, Interactive, and Longitudinal Associations

Abstract

Early relationships with parents provide a foundation upon which children develop the skills and behaviors that are critical for engagement at school-entry (Eccles, Roeser, Vida, Fredricks, & Wigfield, 2006). Although there is growing recognition that closeness, conflict, and sensitivity from parents are associated with engagement (Bempechat & Shernoff, 2012; Wentzel, 2012), the processes by which this occurs remains unclear. To address this gap, we investigate three ways in which parent-child relationships may be associated with children’s engagement. First, children who develop closer or more conflictual relationships with parents may develop similar relationships with their elementary-school teachers (Ainsworth, 1979). In turn, teachers may mediate associations between early parent-child relationships and engagement. Second, children who enter school with fewer cognitive, self-regulatory, or behavioral capabilities may be less likely to elicit warmth or sensitivity from parents or teachers, which may affect engagement patterns (Keegan, 2001). Third, social support perspectives suggest that close relationships with parents may be particularly important for child engagement when there is conflict within the student-teacher relationship (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Sarason et al., 1990). However, no investigations have addressed these mediating and interactive pathways.

This investigation relies on a large longitudinal study, the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD-SECCYD), and utilizes data collected from children at birth, 34 and 56 months, and 1st grade (n=1364). Children’s behavioral engagement assessed the percentage of instructional time children spent actively (e.g., participating) and passively (attending to the teacher) engaged, and was measured via independent observation in the spring of 1st grade. Maternal sensitivity was assessed with a semi-structured interaction task at 56 months and 1st grade, and mothers reported on closeness and conflict using the Adult-Child Relationship Scale (ACRS; Pianta, 2001). First-grade closeness and conflict with teachers was assessed with the Teacher-Child Relationship Scale (TCRS, Pianta, 2001).

Structural equation models (SEMs) were conducted in MPlus7, and tested the mediating and interactive processes by which children’s relationships with parents were associated with engagement. All models controlled for child, family, and classroom characteristics, as well as lagged self-regulatory, cognitive, and behavioral measures from 36 months.

Results found that 54-month and 1st grade parent-child relationships were not directly associated with children’s engagement in 1st grade. However, both maternal sensitivity and conflict prior to school entry were indirectly associated with child engagement via conflict within the teacher-child relationship (βs=-.08 & .11, respectively). Results also confirm that children with elevated levels of internalizing and externalizing problems at 36 months elicited more conflict from parents at 54 months (βs=.17 & .41), which was problematic for teacher-child relationships in 1st grade. Children with fewer self-regulatory capabilities also elicited more conflict from teachers (β=.151, reversed). In turn, teacher conflict was problematic for children’s engagement (β=-.11), and mediated these associations. However, a significant two-way interaction between 1st grade parent- and teacher-child relationships suggests that parental closeness buffers children against the problematic effects of teacher-conflict.

Conceptual, theoretical, and methodological challenges will be discussed in reference to future research and intervention, and appropriate next steps will be evaluated.

Authors

• Melissa Heatly Castle, University of Pittsburgh

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh