Quality of Fathers’ Spatial Concept Support During Block Building Predicts Their Daughters’ Early Math Skills

• In Event: 2-076 - Supporting Children’s Early Mathematics Learning: Understanding the Role of the Home Environment

Integrative Statement

Maternal support on spatial tasks has been shown to be predictive of children’s early math skills (Casey et al., 2014). However, to our knowledge, no prior research has investigated how fathers support children’s developing spatial skills. To address this gap, the present study examined the relation between early spatial support provided by fathers on a block-building task at the beginning of first grade and their child’s level of math skills on a standardized math test at the end of first grade. Given sex differences in children’s spatial skills favoring boys, we also assessed for gender differences in the associations between father support and children’s math skills.

Observational measures of videotaped father-child interactions from the Boston site of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N =105) were used to examine the effectiveness of spatial support during a block building task. Trained observers rated fathers’ spatial support using (a) a qualitative rating scale assessing level of paternal spatial concept support involving encouragement of child spatial learning and enriched spatial explanations, and (b) a measure assessing quantitative paternal spatial location language support. In separate ordinary least-squares models, we regressed children’s math scores at the end of first grade on father’s quality of spatial concept support and quantity of spatial location language in the beginning of first grade. We controlled for child’s independent accuracy on the block-building task, the total length of the interaction, as well as a host of variables, including children’s math achievement at age 4.5 years, family income, child intelligence and ratings of fathers’ and mothers’ general cognitive support (e.g., support for a range of perceptual, cognitive, and linguistic development). In a second set of regression models, an interaction term between each type of paternal spatial support and child sex was included to examine whether paternal spatial support differentially predicted boys’ and girls’ math achievement.

Results showed that for girls (but not for boys), fathers’ qualitatively higher spatial concept support predicted superior math achievement scores by the end of first grade (Models 2 and 4 in Table 1 and Figure 1). The quantitative measure of frequency of paternal spatial location language support was not predictive of math, but children’s independent accuracy on the block building task did predict math achievement (Model 3 in Table 1). Findings suggest that fathers may have an important role to play in providing high-quality spatial concept support for their young daughters.

These findings have implications for family engagement in the development of girls’ math skills. The differential effect of paternal spatial concept support for girls and boys, as seen in the present study, highlights an element of family-based support that may be key for addressing the sex disparities in early spatial skills noted in previous research (Levine et al., 2016; Pruden & Levine, 2017). Support that specifically encourages girls’ independent problem-solving through questions and prompts, and which includes enriched explanations that deepen the child’s understanding of spatial concepts, may be critical for developing girls’ math skills during the early elementary years.

Authors

• Dana Thomson, School of Social Work, Boston College
  Presenting Author

• Beth M. Casey, Lynch School of Education, Boston College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Caitlin McPherran Lombardi, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eric Dearing, Boston College
  Non-Presenting Author