Poster #30 - Ethnic Differences in Children’s Block-Building and Early Parenting Practices

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Spatial skills in childhood are foundational to later math and science performance. Spatial skills involve perceiving spatial information and mentally and/or physically manipulating objects in space. Already by kindergarten, individual differences in children’s spatial skills are stable (Sonnenschein & Sun, 2017), with children from low-income ethnically diverse families often lagging behind their peers. Parenting behaviors—including puzzle and block play—support children’s spatial skill development. Do ethnic differences in children’s spatial skills exist prior to school? Do parents from different backgrounds diverge in their interactions around spatial skills? We examined 4- and 5-year-old children’s performance on a block-building task; mothers’ and children’s construction activities with blocks; and asked whether mothers’ and children’s block-building activities relate.
Participants were 167 African American (n = 36), Chinese (n = 51), Dominican (n = 43), and Mexican (n = 37) mothers and their children. Chinese and Mexican mothers had been in the United States the fewest years; African American mothers were 3+ generation. Dominican mothers were predominantly born outside the States, but were in longer than Chinese and Mexicans.
Mothers and children visited the lab when children were 4 and 5 years. At each assessment, children were tested on a block-building task (12 structures). The experimenter built the structures shown on the testing sheet in front of the child. The child was then instructed to replicate it. Testing ended after 3 consecutive failed structures. After testing, the experimenter told mothers it was time for a break, leaving the mother and child alone at a table with the set of blocks. The experimenter informed mothers that she would return to complete the block-building assessment in 5 minutes, and left the testing sheet on the table. Mothers were unaware that they were being video-recorded, thereby reducing demand characteristics to build with their children.
We coded children’s # correct structures during test; mother’s and child’s time spent constructing during the break, including times building “test structures” (from the sheet) or “random structures”.
At both ages, Chinese children surpassed other children, with Mexican children also showing high performance (Figure 1). However, much overlap was seen among children in the 4 groups. We conducted separate 4(Ethnicity)×2(Structures Type: Test and Random)×2(Child Age) MANOVAs, with mother and child time building as dependent variables. Mothers and children of the 4 ethnicities differed in their time spent on the two construction types, p < .001. Mexican and Chinese mothers and children spent more time building test structures, whereas African American and Dominican mothers and children spent more time building random structures (Figure 2). Mothers’ and children’s building behaviors also related (all p’s < .01).
Ethnic differences in children’s spatial skills emerge prior to school and persist over time, although group averages mask enormous within-group variation. Ethnic differences in mother and child block play may help explain differences. Mothers and children from newer immigrant groups focused on test-type constructions, perhaps indicating high emphasis on children’s academic achievement. Early child-parent engagements shape children’s opportunities and interactions with materials in ways that support spatial skill development.

Authors

• Eva Liang, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Daniel D. Suh, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author