Early Academic and Cognitive Development in Relation to Parental Support and Engagement in Children's Learning

• In Event: Contemporary Issues in Developmental Psychology

Abstract

Are early cognitive development differences related to parenting practices and home environments? We conducted 22 family interviews and collected data from 24 five-year-old children in transitional kindergarten classrooms using five subtests from the Woodcock Johnson IV ECAD. Grounded in sociocultural theory, we utilized three overarching variables of home learning environment, pedagogical approaches, and parent involvement to evaluate our question. Children differed significantly in the measures of vocabulary comprehension and lexical knowledge, short-term verbal working memory and auditory memory span, and early reading abilities, with generally higher cognitive scores with the presence of the daily routine variable. Our results suggest integrating learning into daily routines at home may be associated with better cognitive and academic outcomes in early childhood.

Authors

• Naomi T. Lin, University of California - San Diego

• Monica N. Molgaard, University of California - San Diego

• Shana R. Cohen, University of California - San Diego

• Alison G. Wishard Guerra, University of California - San Diego

• Tim Brown, University of California - San Diego