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Family support and gains in school readiness: A longitudinal study
Author(s) -
Hughes Claire,
White Naomi,
Foley Sarah,
Devine Rory T.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/bjep.12188
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , longitudinal study , family income , family support , foley , pupil , cognition , medicine , economics , economic growth , neuroscience , physical therapy , surgery , pathology
Background Traditional measures of school readiness are labour‐intensive and do not assess family support. Aims The current study used the newly developed Brief Early Skills and Support Index ( BESSI : Hughes, Daly, Foley, White and Devine 2015) to examine 6‐month longitudinal stability and change in teachers’ ratings of young children's school readiness and investigate the role of family support as a predictor of school readiness. Sample Five hundred and seventy‐eight children (270 boys; 74.2% White British) were included at Time 1 aged 2.58–5.84 years ( M age = 3.98 years, SD = 0.66). Method Teachers and nursery workers completed BESSI questionnaires for each participant on two occasions separated by 6 months. Results The four latent factors of the BESSI (i.e., Behavioural Adjustment, Language and Cognition, Daily Living Skills and Family Support) exhibited longitudinal measurement invariance and individual differences in ratings on each factor showed strong stability over time. BESSI ratings were also sensitive to improvements over time. Auto‐regressive models showed that family support and family income (as measured by eligibility for pupil premium support) at Time 1 each uniquely predicted child outcomes at Time 2. Conclusions These findings highlight the importance of family contexts for children's school readiness.