The Role of Traditional and Authentic Home Environment Practices in Building Latino Children’s Academic Skills

• In Event: Home Practices and Beyond: Looking at Media, Numeracy, Literacy, and Authentic Practices in Diverse Populations

Abstract

Aims. Latino children represent 25% of those entering kindergarten in the US (US Census, 2014). They show strengths in socio-emotional skills and executive function but they lag behind their peers in academic school readiness at kindergarten entry. Home environment practices (HEP) play a critical role in the development of children’s school readiness skills. Prior research has predominantly focused on “traditional” HEP (e.g., book-reading). However, “authentic”, non-traditional HEP (i.e., food routines such as cooking) might be particularly important for Latino communities (Purcell-Gates et al., 2007). This study seeks to extend our understanding of the role of “authentic” and “traditional” HEP in Latino families by: (1)Examining the factor structure of various authentic/traditional HEP in a sample of Latino families; and (2)Investigating concurrent associations between HEP and kindergarteners’ academic skills.

Study Population. Data come from an RCT of the Food For Thought intervention (first piloted in 2017; Leyva & Skorb, 2017), which helps Latino parent learn how to use everyday food routines as avenues to foster their kindergarteners’ academic skills. Pre-intervention data from 147 families was used. About 10% of parents were born in the USA; 24% had a GED diploma or higher; most families were from Central America (47%) and Mexico (41%).

Methods. We administered two sets of HEP items to parents (i.e., “authentic” and traditional; see items in Table 4.1). We assessed children’s language, literacy, and math skills using Woodcock-Munoz and IDELA subtests (see Table 4.1).
To answer Aim 1, we randomly divided the sample and conducted EFAs within a subset of 45 families followed by CFAs with the remainder 102 families. All analyses were conducted separately for each of the two sets of HEP items. To answer aim 2, we used multivariate regression within an SEM framework clustering standard errors at the school-level, controlling for age, gender, and birth place.
Results. For traditional items, we found evidence of a teaching practices construct (i.e., teaching letters/sounds, numbers, counting), though three items did not load into this construct (i.e., number of books, book-reading, past-event talk). Frequency of book-reading, but not other traditional HEP, predicted word knowledge (beta=0.28, p=.02).
For authentic items, we found no evidence of good-fitting constructs. Thus, we analyzed these items separately. Frequency of having nice conversations during meals, but not other “authentic” HPE, predicted vocabulary (beta=.24, p=.002), emergent-writing skills (beta=.20, p=.02) and math (beta=.24, p=.01) (see Figure 4.1).

Discussion. Consistent with a strengths-based and culturally responsive approach to understanding minority communities (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005), this study explored the role of traditional and “authentic” HEP in Latino communities. One of the main contributions of this study is the identification of positive associations between “authentic” HEP and children’s academic outcomes. This evidence further supports the need to develop interventions that capitalize on Latino families’ authentic HEP to promote school readiness.

Authors

• Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado, Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  Presenting Author

• Diana Leyva, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christina J Weiland, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anna Shapiro, University of Virginia
  Non-Presenting Author