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Mothers' Early Mind‐Mindedness Predicts Educational Attainment in Socially and Economically Disadvantaged British Children
Author(s) -
Meins Elizabeth,
Fernyhough Charles,
Centifanti Luna C.M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13028
Subject(s) - psychology , socioeconomic status , developmental psychology , disadvantaged , reading (process) , educational attainment , theory of mind , cognition , demography , population , neuroscience , sociology , political science , law , economics , economic growth
Relations between mothers' mind‐mindedness (appropriate and nonattuned mind‐related comments) at 8 months ( N = 206), and children's educational attainment at ages 7 ( n = 158) and 11 ( n = 156) were investigated in a British sample. Appropriate mind‐related comments were positively correlated with reading and mathematics performance at both ages but only in the low‐socioeconomic status (SES) group. Path analyses showed that in the low‐SES group, appropriate mind‐related comments directly predicted age‐11 reading performance, with age‐4 verbal ability mediating the relation between appropriate mind‐related comments and age‐7 reading. In contrast, maternal sensitivity and infant–mother attachment security did not predict children's educational attainment. These findings are discussed in terms of genetic and environmental contributions to reading and mathematics performance.