A Preregistered Study Examining the Factor Structure of the Home Learning Environment

• In Event: The Home Learning Environment: Where Are We Now?

Abstract

Introduction: Children’s home environment is one in which their earliest learning and development can occur (Ellis et al. 2022; Morrison 2009; Pomerantz et al. 2007). This is evident as home environment differences are associated with differences in children’s skills and knowledge prior to early schooling (Castro et al. 2015; Melhuish et al. 2008). Researchers have studied the home environment in various ways, one of which is through the use of surveys that ask parents to report how often they participate in certain activities with their child. This approach has led to the creation of four domains of parent-child content-specific interactions: the Home Literacy Environment (HLE) the Home Mathematics Environment (HME) the Home Science Environment (HSE) and the Home Executive Function Environment (HEFE).

Some studies have shown separate structures of the HLE (e.g. Umek et al. 2005) and the HME (e.g. Purpura et al. 2020) which determine the number of factors that support our understanding of the domain-specific survey items. However, one key issue remains; the subdomains (HLE HME HSE and HEFE) have yet to be included in one survey with the same population. Thus, our field has not been able to assess whether these four subdomains are truly separate or if they are better explained by a broader overarching home learning environment construct. This information is important for both scale development and creating actionable information for parents. Using data from the Early Home Learning Environment (EHLE) dataset, the present preregistered study (OSF link available) examines the factor structure of the home learning environment with all four domain-specific areas based on established and well-utilized scales.

Method: Participants (N = 1046) were parents of children (Mage = 4.22 [1.92]) who were recruited online for a larger survey about the home learning environment (Ellis et al. 2022). Parents completed a 20-item survey for the HME a 10-item survey for the HSE a 13-item survey for the HLE and a 5-item survey for the HEFE. In these questions, parents were asked to rate how often they engaged in these activities over the past month. Responses were recorded on a five-point Likert scale ranging from never (1) to multiple times a day (6).

Results: First, a four-factor model with correlated subdomains was tested using established scales for the HLE (McCormick et al., 2020), HME (LeFevre et al., 2009), HEFE (Korucu et al., 2019), and HSE (Westerberg et al., 2022). Then a one-factor model was tested across the same four established scales as one large home learning environment factor. Model fit indices are presented in Table 1. Results indicated that, the four-factor model fit the data better than the one-factor model based on fit indices (CFI = .68, TLI = .67, RMSEA = .08), however, neither model presented a great fit to the data.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that these four subdomains may indeed be separate constructs. However, exploratory analyses may be necessary to determine a “good” fitting model as neither model was acceptable based on fit statistic cutoffs. Implications for future research and home measurement will be discussed.

Authors

• Alexa Ellis, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  Presenting Author

• Connor O'Rear, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Jimena Cosso, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette