3-139 - Understanding family processes and child development in Latin America: the case of Chile

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The home environment is a powerful learning setting that plays an important role in the development of early skills (LeFevre et al., 2002; Sonnenschein et al., 2012; Weigel et al., 2005). Although there is robust evidence that attitudes, beliefs, and practices are key factors related to the development of children’s skills during preschool and school years (LeFevre et al., 2009; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014), questions remain as to how these family processes exert their role in Latin American communities and how these findings may inform interventions tailored to promote child development. By including three Chilean studies, with diverse samples in terms of socio-economic status (SES) and cultural backgrounds and different methodology, this paper symposium broadens our understanding of how family processes promote the development of children’s numeracy, language, and cognitive flexibility, and whether these links are affected by other factors, such as quality of instruction. The first paper presents findings from a study of parental academic expectations, numeracy attitudes, numeracy practices, and numeracy performance in a sample of Chilean children and parents from a wide range of SES. The second paper explores the ways that exposing children to texts predicts distinct vocabulary growth patterns, and the moderation role of quality of instruction on a large low-SES Chilean sample. The third paper investigates the effect of a parenting intervention on Chilean children’s post intervention cognitive flexibility. Findings from these studies reveal variations in family processes, highlighting avenues for interventions to promote child development in communities with diverse SES backgrounds.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Maria Ines Susperreguy, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Discussant

• Pamela Davis-Kean, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• Home numeracy and its relations to numeracy skills in Chilean preschoolers - Presenting Author: Maria Ines Susperreguy, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Maria Fernanda Montoya, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Natalia Molina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

• Trajectories of vocabulary growth in Chilean low-SES families: family and instructional factors - Presenting Author: Susana Mendive, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Mayra Mascareño, Groningen Institute of Educational Research; Daniela Aldoney, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago; Jose Pezoa, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Anita Díaz, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Manuela Sylleros, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Ignacio Araya, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

• Studying the impacts of a large scale parenting intervention on child cognitive flexibility - Presenting Author: Miguel Cordero, University of Bristol; Rebecca Pearson, 8. School of Social and Community Medicine, Bristol University, Bristol, United Kingdom; Paula Bedregal, Universidad Católica's Department of Public Health; Pedro Carneiro, University College London; Emanuela Galasso, The World Bank; Italo Lopez, RAND Corporation