Developmental Benefits of a Preschool Parent Engagement Program for Low-Income Families: Early Adolescent Outcomes

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Parental and Peer Influences on Development During the Early Childhood and Adolescent Years (Table 1)

Abstract

A parent engagement program was implemented with families of preschool children and evaluated using a randomized-controlled design. 200 children from low-income families (55% White, 26% Black, 19% Latino; 56% male; Mage = 4.45 years) were recruited from Head Start. Families randomized to intervention received 16 home visits designed to empower parents with scaffolded parent-child play activities, interactive stories, and coaching; families randomized to the attention control group received early learning resources via postal mail. Children were followed for 8 years with 82% retained through middle school. Sustained intervention effects emerged on grade 7 reading and EF tests and on ratings of externalizing problems and social adjustment. Mediation models explored developmental links between initial intervention effects and subsequent grade 7 outcomes.

Authors

• Karen L. Bierman, Pennsylvania State University

• Brenda Heinrichs, Pennsylvania State University

• Janet Welsh, Pennsylvania State University