Maternal Insightfulness and Preschoolers’ School Readiness

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - School Readiness/Childcare

Abstract

Maternal insightfulness – the empathetic capacity to see and accept the child’s motives underlying their behavior and remain child-focused – is a reflective process linked to sensitive and non-intrusive parenting behavior (Gomez et al., 2018) that promotes secure attachment (Oppenheim et al., 2001) and scaffolds children’s learning. Insightfulness and related reflective process have been associated with a range of distinct developmental domains important to children’s school readiness – a set of foundational self-regulation and related social-emotional and cognitive skills that help children adapt to the classroom and achieve success upon entry to school (Hair et al., 2006) linked to future academic and psychological adjustment in school (Reynolds et al., 2011). Related reflective processes have been shown to benefit children’s effortful control and acquisition of pre-academic concepts (Bernier et al., 2017), and insightfulness has been positively associated with a combination of language and cognitive skills (Gomez et al., 2018) and to buffer against elevated externalizing behaviors in preschoolers (Oppenheim et al., 2004). Yet, no studies have considered the unique benefits of insightfulness across cognitive and non-cognitive domains of school readiness. We hypothesized that maternal insightfulness would be associated with higher social-emotional and cognitive school readiness skills.

A total of 112 mothers and their preschool-aged children (M = 51.51 months, SD = 9.31) participated. Families were low-income (M = $15,000 or less) and primarily identified as African American or Black (98%). Families completed in-home or on-site interviews and questionnaires. Insightfulness was measured using the semi-structured Insightfulness Assessment interview (Koren-Karie & Oppenheim, 2000), and coded using 10 scales. Per previous factor analytic analyses (Oppenheim et al., 2001) replicated in these data, the scales complexity, richness, insight into motives, acceptance, coherence, and reverse-coded hostility were summed to render the Positive Insight dimension, i.e., seeing and accepting child’s motives underlying their behavior; and the scales focus, separateness, and reverse-coded concern were summed to render the Focus on Child dimension, i.e., remaining child-focused. Mothers completed questionnaires about children’s social-emotional skills, including children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Child Behavior Checklist) and prosocial skills (Preschool Kindergarten Behavior Scale). Children completed direct assessments of cognitive school readiness skills, including executive function, impulse control, and attention and impulsivity dimensions of self-regulation (Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment) as well as receptive language skills (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, 4th edition).

A series of linear models with each insightfulness dimension and school readiness skill were run, controlling for child age (see Table 1). Higher maternal positive insight significantly predicted lower externalizing problem behaviors but did not significantly predict internalizing behaviors or prosocial skills. Higher positive insight significantly predicted higher language skills, while higher focus on child significantly predicted higher impulse control.

Results suggest maternal insightfulness related to remaining child focused may be beneficial for cognitive school readiness regarding higher impulse control skills, while positive insight may be beneficial to children’s language-related school readiness as well as their social-emotional school readiness regarding fewer difficulties with externalizing problem behaviors. Findings suggest family centered approaches to school readiness efforts may be critical for low income families.

Authors

• Virginia Hatch, Tulane University
  Presenting Author

• Lauren Fleming, Tulane University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jana Becker, Tulane University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anna Wilson, Tulane University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah A.O. Gray, Tulane University
  Non-Presenting Author