Open AccessChanges in parents’ spanking and reading as mechanisms for Head Start impacts on children.
Author(s) -
Elizabeth T. Gershoff,
Arya Ansari,
Kelly M. Purtell,
Holly R. Sexton
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of family psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.138
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1939-1293
pISSN - 0893-3200
DOI - 10.1037/fam0000172
Subject(s) - spanking , head start , psychology , developmental psychology , psycinfo , aggression , reading (process) , early head start , literacy , poison control , injury prevention , medicine , medline , pedagogy , environmental health , political science , law
This study examined whether Head Start, the nation's main two-generation program for low-income families, benefits children in part through positive changes in parents' use of spanking and reading to children. Data were drawn from the 3-year-old cohort of the national evaluation of the Head Start program known as the Head Start Impact Study (N = 2,063). Results indicated that Head Start had small, indirect effects on children's spelling ability at Age 4 and their aggression at Age 4 through an increase in parents' reading to their children. Taken together, the results suggest that parents play a role in sustaining positive benefits of the Head Start program for children's behavior and literacy skills, one that could be enhanced with a greater emphasis on parent involvement and education. (PsycINFO Database Record