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Early growth trajectories of children's approaches to learning: The contribution of parent and family characteristics
Author(s) -
Buek Katharine W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/pits.22224
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , mathematics education
Children's approaches to learning (AtL) has been identified in research and policy as a key domain of children's school readiness. However, relatively little is known about the child and family factors that shape early AtL, how it varies in the general population, or how it develops and changes through the early years of schooling. This exploratory study examined the growth of children's AtL over six occasions spanning kindergarten through second grade in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey (ECLS‐K) class of 2010–2011 as predicted by parenting and family characteristics. Latent classes of AtL growth were identified through growth mixture modeling and regressed onto explanatory covariates to uncover patterns and sources of variation in children's AtL. Results revealed higher and lower AtL growth classes significantly associated with demographic and parenting variables measured in kindergarten. In particular, sex (male) and poverty were associated with lower AtL trajectories, whereas the presence of both biological parents in the household and parent involvement at school and at home predicted membership in the higher AtL group. Implications of these findings for further clarification and exploration of AtL as a construct are discussed.