Poster #95 - Linking Poverty to Self-regulation Trajectories among Young, Low-Income African American and Latino Children

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Self-regulation (SR) is a child’s ability to modulate behaviors according to the cognitive, emotional, and social demands of a particular situation (Calkins & Fox, 2002). In early childhood, better SR predicts better school readiness, higher early academic achievement and better school performance for children (Blair et al., 2015). Disparities in SR development for children from low-income families relative to their middle-class counterparts emerge as early as preschool (Caughy et al., 2013). More sensitive parenting is related to better growth of SR longitudinally (Blair et al., 2011), and low SES is associated with less sensitive parenting (Martinez-Torteya et al., 2014). However, no study has examined the relation between poverty and the trajectory of SR development in a predominantly low SES minority group and whether sensitive parenting mediates this relation. Thus, this study will address the following questions: 1) Does poverty predict growth in behavioral self-regulation from age 3.5 to early elementary school? 2) Does maternal sensitive parenting mediate the relation between poverty and SR growth?

Participants were from a larger longitudinal study of self-regulation and school readiness among low-income African American and Latino preschoolers. Data were collected at child age 2.5 years (Wave 1), 3.5 years (Wave 2), kindergarten (Wave 3), and first grade (Wave 4). We excluded families who did not participate from Wave 2 to Wave 4 and with children who were diagnosed with developmental disability. A total of 357 families were included in this analysis. Demographic information is shown in Table 1. Child SR was measured using the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulder (HTKS) task (McClelland et al., 2007) at Wave 2, Wave 3 and Wave 4. Interrater reliability for the HTKS based on 16% of cases was .89. Families’ average income-to-needs ratio from Wave 1 to Wave 4 was used as the indicator for poverty. Sensitive parenting was rated based on video-recordings of a semi-structured mother-child interaction task at Wave 1. The interactions were rated using 5-point global rating scales to assess maternal sensitivity, intrusiveness, detachment, cognitive stimulation, positive regard, and negative regard (Owen et al., 1996). Interrater reliability for parenting based on 29% of the interactions ranged from .81 to .87.

In order to capture the trajectory of HTKS scores, we used structure equations modeling (SEM) to estimate a latent growth curve model (see Figure 1; I = 1.60, p < .001, S = 10.48, p < .001). A bi-factor model was used to create two parenting factors - sensitive-support (i.e. loading on all six indictors) and intrusive-insensitivity factors (i.e., loading on sensitivity, detachment, intrusiveness, & negative regard; see author reference). Regarding the first question, higher income/needs ratio was associated with faster SR trajectory (β = .15, p < .05). Regarding the second question, maternal sensitive-support at Wave 1 mediated the relation between income-to-needs ratio and SR trajectory. However, maternal intrusive-insensitivity did not mediate the relation between income-to-needs ratio and SR trajectory. Future analysis will examine whether the relations differ by ethnicity.

Authors

• Dian Yu, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Margaret Caughy, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Margaret Tresch Owen, University of Texas at Dallas
  Non-Presenting Author