Poster #74 - Which family activities predict child self-regulated learning at early elementary school?

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - Interdisciplinary Section

Integrative Statement

A growing body of research demonstrates the importance of self-regulated learning—the extent that students are proactively engaged in the learning task—as a modifiable contributor to reducing disparities in achievement (Daniel, Wang, & Berthelsen, 2016; Dignath, Buettner, & Langfeldt, 2008), and in social opportunity (Moffitt et al., 2011). In this study, we applied interdisciplinary research methods to understand how participation in out-of-school activities contributes to the development of self-regulated learning at early elementary school. We also considered the role of gender, race, and socioeconomic status as potentially important individual differences. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort of 2011, we examined which family adversity and family activities were significantly related to self-regulated learning at first grade using correlation and multiple regression analyses. A multivariate Opportunity-Propensity framework (Wang, Shen, & Byrnes, 2013; Wang & Byrnes, 2018; Wang & Fitzpatrick, 2018) that emerged from the fields of education and psychology was used to guide this study. The O-P model grouped consistent predictors of education outcomes into three interdisciplinary categories: opportunity (education opportunity), propensity (child psychological characteristics), and antecedent (distal/moderator) factors. For this study, opportunity factors were aspects of learning contexts that promoted skill development and acquisition, such as the way children spend their time outside of school (Fitzpatrick, Barnett, Pagani, 2012; Pagani, Fitzpatrick, & Barnett, 2013); propensity factors were psychological characteristics of children that made them prone to acquire skills in these contexts such as executive functions (Blair & Diamond, 2008; Li-Grining, Votruba-Drzal, Maldonado-Carreño, & Haas, 2010; Ponitz, McClelland, Matthews, & Morisson, 2009); and antecedent factors were distal variables including socio-economic status (SES), child gender, and child race (Matthews et al., 2009; Reardon & Portilla, 2016) that explained why children had differential exposure to more beneficial learning opportunities, and why some were more willing and able to learn from them. Our preliminary results showed the following: a) There were differences in self-regulated learning at spring of first grade by gender, race, and socioeconomic status. See Table 1. b) Participation in certain out-of-school activities (e.g., frequency of doing sports in a typical week with a range of 0 to 7) predicted self-regulated learning. See Table 2. c) For boys, cognitive stimulating activities such as practicing numbers and child reading outside of school mattered; for girls, doing arts & crafts and family reading mattered. e) For children living in wealthier families, doing sports, doing arts & crafts, and having child read books mattered; for children living in poor families, maternal age at child birth matter the most. f) For children who are non-White, practicing reading and writing numbers mattered the most; for children who are white, doing sports mattered the most. Our preliminary results showed which out-of-school activities were more effective with different types of children on the basis of gender, race, and socioeconomic status. These findings can inform global professionals in diverse fields on how to embed extracurricular opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds to develop stronger, more resilient learners.

Authors

• Aubrey H Wang, Saint Joseph's University
  Presenting Author

• Caroline Fitzpatrick, Université Sainte-Anne
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Crispin, Saint Joseph's University
  Non-Presenting Author