Understanding Executive Function and Mathematics Development for Racially Minoritized Children through Family Academic Socialization Practices

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

The Integrative Theory (Garcia Coll et al., 1996) articulates several family socialization processes that may promote developmental outcomes for ethnic/racial minority children (Garcia Coll et al., 1996; Perez-Brena, Rivas-Drake, Toomey, & Umana-Taylor, 2018). Family traditions and routines that develop through adaptive culture may help us better understand how racially minoritized children and their families develop practices to thrive in the U.S (Perez et al., 2018). In the current study, we sought to examine family practices for Asian-American, Black, and Latinx families and their children that predict executive function (EF) and subsequent mathematics skills in kindergarten.
We used the Integrative Theory to frame our study on 473 Asian-American, 640 Black, and 1170 Latino Kindergarten children and examined how families make use of their family practices (expectations, routines, and leisure activities) to promote the development of mathematics and EFs. Our proposed model is in figure 1 below. Executive Function focused on working memory and was measured using the Numbers Reversed subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities. Mathematics skills were measured using a standardized assessment that captured children’s conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and problem-solving within specific strands, with a focus on the “number sense, properties, and operations” strand.

We operationalized family socialization practices of the Integrative Theory to consist of these constructs. Family expectations captured how far parents thought their children would go in school or their highest level of academic attainment would be. It also included parent racial socialization and parental warmth. Family routines included bedtime routine, mealtime routines, and limits on time watching television. Leisure activities consisted of structured and unstructured activities. Structured activities comprised of physical and nonphysical activities, and tutoring. Unstructured activities are composed of reading time, using the computer, and family outings.

Results from a path model using Structural Equation Modeling techniques suggested that parental expectations, parent racial socialization, and reading positively predicted EF for all groups of racially minoritized children. EF also significantly mediated the relationship between parent practices and mathematics skills. Multigroup moderation analyses suggested there were significant differences between Asian-American, Black, and Latinx kindergarten children in predictors of executive function and mathematics. Asian-American children benefitted from nonphysical leisure activities, whereas Black children did not benefit from physical activity. Latinx children did not benefit from any of these. Results are also represented below in Tables 1. These findings highlight the importance of the Integrative Theory and constructs that we created and operationalized. The findings also suggest that children of color seem to benefit from this multivariate conceptualization of family academic socialization practices. The findings also suggest that Black, Latinx, and Asian-American families can promote the development of EF through their family academic socialization practices. As their children develop their EF skills, these stronger cognitive skills would then promote the development of their mathematics skills.

Authors

• Dana Miller-Cotto, Kent State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leann V Smith, Texas A&M University - College Station
  Presenting Author

• Aubrey H. Wang, Saint Joseph’s University
  Non-Presenting Author