Poster #182 - Comprehensive Profiles of Childcare Experience from Birth to Kindergarten: A National Study of School Readiness Outcomes

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - School Readiness/Childcare

Integrative Statement

Early academic and social emotional skills are foundational for later school success (Duncan et al., 2007). Gaps in these competencies exist among US children (Bradbury et al., 2015), and often these early gaps persist throughout school years (Magnuson & Waldfogel, 2008). Examining these gaps through a bioecological lens (Bronfenbrenner, 2005), children’s exposure to early risks within the most proximal contexts may impede school readiness (De Schuymer et al., 2011). Although early childhood education experiences may play a protective role for children exposed to multiple risks, there is a limited understanding of comprehensive sets of experiences that incorporate both risk and protective factors simultaneously as they relate to readiness competencies. One preliminary study using nationally representative data adopted a comprehensive approach considering the type, duration, and timing of early care experiences and identified 5 latent profiles that were distinctly related to children’s early familial risk contexts (Rouse et al., 2018). The purpose of the current study was to extend this work by using these empirically derived childcare profiles to examine associations between early risks and kindergarten outcomes in the context of childcare experiences.
Participants were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative sample of approximately 10,600 children born in 2001 who were followed across 4 waves of data collection (9 months to kindergarten entry). For this study, we used dichotomous indicators of risks from multiple waves including birth to a single/teenage mother, low maternal education (<12 years), poverty (< 100% FPL), inadequate prenatal care, and maternal depression. IRT-based kindergarten reading and math scaled scores were measured using direct assessments constructed by ECLS-B content experts. Four domains of teacher-reported behavior were derived from a 17-item scale (see Riser et al., 2018): Prosocial Skills, Behavior Regulation, Approach to Learning, and Social Perspective Taking. A series of multiple regression models were run to investigate unique associations between childcare profiles, family risks, and kindergarten outcomes (including interaction terms to investigate the moderating effect of profiles on child outcomes).
We found several interactions between low maternal education risk and childcare profiles in relation to cognitive but not behavioral skills (Table1). First, without maternal education risk, children in the Preschool Only profile showed higher reading skills than those in the Relative+Preschool (Figure1(a)). With low maternal education risk, children in the Preschool Only had lower reading skills than those in the Relative+Preschool. Second, with no maternal education risk, children in the Parent Care showed higher math skills than those in the Relative+Preschool (Figure1(b)). With maternal education risk children in the Parent Care had lower math skills than those in the Relative+Preschool. Lastly, without maternal education risk, children in the Preschool Only showed higher math skills than those in the Relative+Preschool (Figure1(c)). With maternal education risk, children in the Preschool Only exhibited lower math skills than those in the Relative+Preschool. When mothers received low education, it may undermine children’s school readiness. However, when children were exposed to non-parental childcare, this may buffer the adverse effect of low maternal education risk on school readiness.

Authors

• Seulki Ku, Iowa State University
  Presenting Author

• Heather Rouse, Iowa State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ji Young Choi, Iowa State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Quentin Riser, Iowa State University
  Non-Presenting Author