Diversity of spatial activities and parents' spatial talk complexity predict preschoolers' gains in spatial skills.

Children's spatial activities and parental spatial talk were measured to examine their associations with variability in preschoolers' spatial skills (N = 113, Mage = 4 years, 4 months; 51% female; 80% White, 11% Black, and 9% other). Parents who reported more diversity in daily spatial activities and used longer spatial talk utterances during a spatial activity had children with greater gains in spatial skills from ages 4 to 5 (ß = .17 and ß = .40, respectively). Importantly, this study is the first to move beyond frequency counts of spatial input and investigate the links among the diversity of children's daily spatial activities, as well as the complexity of parents' spatial language across different contexts, and preschoolers' gains in spatial skills, an important predictor of later STEM success.

Unpacking the Home Numeracy Environment: Examining Dimensions of Number Activities in Early Childhood.

A growing body of research has examined parents' practices to support their young children's number learning at home, i.e., the home numeracy environment. Many of these studies focus on formal and informal domains of numeracy activities, which are inconsistently defined and related to children's math learning. In this study, we explore dimensions of the home numeracy environment and examine their relations with children's math skills among a sample of four-year-old children and their parents over the course of one year. Parents reported on the frequency of 21 numeracy activities when children were four and five. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-factors solution: number-related play activities and use of educational materials with numbers. Frequency of play with numbers was positively related to children's ability to solve applied math problems at age five, controlling for prior number skills, child age, and socioeconomic status. In contrast, neither measure of the home numeracy environment predicted symbolic number knowledge or non-symbolic number sense when controlling for covariates. These findings underscore the need to differentiate between factors of the home numeracy environment and to develop clear theoretical definitions of these factors.

Exploring the role of "in the moment" and global caregiver and child factors in caregiver questioning during shared book viewing.

Questions of high (vs. low) cognitive demand (CD), which encourage children to engage in abstract or critical thinking (e.g., problem solve, reason about cause-and-effect relations, make inferences), may drive relations between children's language exposure and early skills. The present study adopted a micro-analytic approach to examine caregivers' high-CD questioning with their preschool-aged children while viewing a wordless picture book (n = 121) and "in the moment" (e.g., interaction time, child responses) and global factors (e.g., caregiver education). The probability of caregivers' high-CD questioning increased with interaction time and caregiver education. Post-hoc exploratory analyses revealed that the relation between children's responses and caregivers' high-CD questioning depended on caregivers' perceptions of children's vocabulary skills. Specifically, the probability of caregivers' subsequent high-CD questioning was greater if their child did not respond previously and if caregivers perceived them to have high vocabulary skills. In contrast, caregivers' questioning remained relatively constant for responsive children across different vocabulary skills. Thus, caregivers may employ certain types of input during brief, informal learning interactions with their children by considering their own and their child's propensities and micro-level changes that occur during their conversations.

Toddler home math environment: Triangulating multi-method assessments in a U.S. Sample.

Introduction: Current research has documented the home math environment (HME) of preschoolers and kindergarteners. Very few studies, however, have explored the number and spatial activities in which parents engage with children during their toddler years. Methods: This study examined the HME of 157 toddlers using several methodologies, including surveys, time diaries, and observations of math talk. Further, it examined correlations within and across data sources to identify areas of convergence and triangulation, and correlated HME measures with measures of toddlers' number and spatial skills. Results: Findings showed that, in general, uses of different types of math activities, including both number and spatial, were intercorrelated within method. Across methods, there was high intercorrelation between the frequency of math activities reported on parent surveys and the diversity of types of math activities endorsed in time diary interviews. Parent math talk gleaned from semi-structured interviews functioned as a separate aspect of the HME; different types of math talk shared few intercorrelations with engagement in math activities as reported in either surveys or time diaries. Finally, several HME measures positively correlated with toddlers' math skills. Discussion: Given extant research demonstrating that both math activities and math talk predict children's math skills, our results stress the need for multimethod studies that differentiate among these HME opportunities.

Self-regulation in toddlers and the emergence of pre-academic disparities.

A growing body of research has examined how children's self-regulation during early and middle childhood mediates SES disparities in academic achievement. Evidence suggests that these self-regulation skills begin developing even earlier, during the toddler years, but more work is needed examining how different measures of self-regulation relate to key constructs such as socioeconomic status (SES) and toddlers' pre-academic skills. In this online study, we examine multiple approaches to measuring self-regulation using confirmatory factor analyses and assess the extent to which self-regulatory skills help explain SES differences in early math and language skills among a sample of 158 two- and three-year-old children. Self-regulation was assessed through a battery of parent- and examiner-ratings. Children's counting, cardinality, and vocabulary skills were measured online through direct assessments and parent surveys. Two self-regulation factors emerged representing parent-reported and observational measures, and only observational measures of self-regulation mediated associations between SES and children's math and language skills. Parent-reported self-regulation was not uniquely related to SES or children's pre-academic skills, underscoring the need for careful consideration of how self-regulation is measured among toddlers when examining its associations with pre-academic skills.

Associations among socioeconomic status and preschool-aged children's, number skills, and spatial skills: The role of executive function.

Extensive literature has documented socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in young children's standardized math achievement, which primarily reflect differences in basic number and arithmetic skills. In addition, growing evidence indicates that direct assessments of executive function (EF) both predict standardized math achievement and mediate SES differences in standardized math tests. However, early spatial skills and children's approximate number system (ANS) acuity, critical components of later math competence, have been largely absent in this past research. The current study examined SES associations with multiple direct assessments of early ANS, cardinality, and spatial skills, as well as standardized math achievement, in a socioeconomically diverse sample of 4-year-old children (N = 149). Structural equation modeling revealed SES effect sizes of .21 for geometric sensitivity skills, .23 for ANS acuity, .39 for cardinality skills, and .28 for standardized math achievement. Furthermore, relations between SES and children's spatial skills, ANS acuity, cardinality, and standardized math skills were mediated by a composite measure of children's EF skills. Implications of pervasive SES disparities across multiple domains of early math development, as well as the mitigating role of EF, are discussed.

Time spent playing predicts early reading and math skills through associations with self-regulation.

Children's play time has declined in recent decades, which could negatively impact early self-regulation-a vital component of school readiness. To date, studies have not fully explored how the time spent playing relates to children's self-regulatory skills, and in turn, their early reading and math competencies. Using data from time diaries and direct assessments of self-regulation, prereading, and math skills, this study examined how minutes spent playing at home predict these skills in a sample of 128 children followed from age four to five. Additionally, it considered whether self-regulation explained links between play time and prereading and math. Results showed that the time spent playing positively related to children's self-regulation. Moreover, through its association with self-regulation, play time had indirect effects on prereading and math skills measured one year later. Results suggest that fostering opportunities for play time during the preschool years may help to boost school readiness skills.

Measuring Emerging Number Knowledge in Toddlers.

Recent evidence suggests that infants and toddlers may recognize counting as numerically relevant long before they are able to count or understand the cardinal meaning of number words. The Give-N task, which asks children to produce sets of objects in different quantities, is commonly used to test children's cardinal number knowledge and understanding of exact number words but does not capture children's preliminary understanding of number words and is difficult to administer remotely. Here, we asked whether toddlers correctly map number words to the referred quantities in a two-alternative forced choice Point-to-X task (e.g., "Which has three?"). Two- to three-year-old toddlers (N = 100) completed a Give-N task and a Point-to-X task through in-person testing or online via videoconferencing software. Across number-word trials in Point-to-X, toddlers pointed to the correct image more often than predicted by chance, indicating that they had some understanding of the prompted number word that allowed them to rule out incorrect responses, despite limited understanding of exact cardinal values. No differences in Point-to-X performance were seen for children tested in-person versus remotely. Children with better understanding of exact number words as indicated on the Give-N task also answered more trials correctly in Point-to-X. Critically, in-depth analyses of Point-to-X performance for children who were identified as 1- or 2-knowers on Give-N showed that 1-knowers do not show a preliminary understanding of numbers above their knower-level, whereas 2-knowers do. As researchers move to administering assessments remotely, the Point-to-X task promises to be an easy-to-administer alternative to Give-N for measuring children's emerging number knowledge and capturing nuances in children's number-word knowledge that Give-N may miss.

What's in a question? Parents' question use in dyadic interactions and the relation to preschool-aged children's math abilities.

The cognitive complexity of adults' questions, particularly during shared book reading, supports children's developing language skills. Questions can be described as having low cognitive demand (CD; e.g., labeling, matching) or high-CD (e.g., comparing, predicting). Little is known about the relation between different types of parental questioning and children's math abilities. The current study examined the quantity of low- and high-CD and domain-specific math questions that parents posed to their 4-year-old children in three structured activities and how the frequency of those questions relates to children's concurrent math and language skills. Parent-child dyads (n = 121) were observed interacting with a picture book, grocery store toys, and a puzzle for about 5 min each, and children completed math and spatial assessments. Although the frequency with which parents asked questions did not relate to children's outcomes, parents' use of high-CD questions was associated with children's spatial skills, standardized math scores, and vocabulary skills after controlling for parental utterances, child utterances, child age, and family socioeconomic status. However, domain-specific math questions were not related to any child outcomes above and beyond parents' total questions. This study suggests that domain-general questions that vary in CD (low and high) are differentially related to children's math and language abilities, which can inform the ways in which parents engage in early learning opportunities with their children.

Triangulating multi-method assessments of parental support for early math skills.

Past research has examined parental support for math during early childhood using parent-report surveys and observational measures of math talk. However, since most studies only present findings from one of these methods, the construct (parental support for early math) and the method are inextricably linked, and we know little about whether these methods provide similar or unique information about children's exposure to math concepts. This study directly addresses the mono-operation bias operating in past research by collecting and comparing multiple measures of support for number and spatial skills, including math talk during semi-structured observations of parent-child interactions, parent reports on a home math activities questionnaire, and time diaries. Findings from 128 parents of 4-year-old children reveal substantial within-measure variability across all three data sources in the frequency of number and spatial activities and the type and content of parent talk about number and spatial concepts. Convergence in parental math support measures was evident among parent reports from the questionnaire and time diaries, such that scale composites about monthly number activities were related to number activities on the previous work day, and monthly spatial activities were correlated with spatial activities the prior non-work days. However, few parent report measures from the survey or time diary were significantly correlated with observed quantity or type of math talk in the semi-structured observations. Future research implications of these findings are discussed.

Low-income mothers' patterns of partnership instability and adolescents' socioemotional well-being.

The present study investigated the association of family structure and maternal partnership instability patterns with adolescents' behavioral and emotional well-being among urban low-income families. Analyses employed data from the Three-City Study to track maternal partnerships over the youth's life span, linking longitudinal family structure and transition patterns to adolescent well-being (N = 2305). Families were classified into nine mutually exclusive longitudinal partnership groups based on current status at wave 3 (single, married, or cohabiting) and the longevity of that status: always (since adolescent's birth with no transitions), stable (lasting two years or more, preceded by transitions), or new (transpiring in the past 2 years). Adolescents in the always married group displayed less delinquency and externalizing problems, according to both youth and mother reports, than peers in always single-parent or newly married households. In contrast, youth in always cohabiting households had higher maternal ratings of internalizing problems and youth with newly cohabiting mothers reported higher psychological distress than peers in similar stability groups with single or married mothers. Overall, several potential explanatory processes for the family structure and stability patterns surfaced: married parent families reported less economic hardship, more family routines and father involvement, and less maternal psychological distress and parenting stress than their single and cohabiting counterparts. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Maternal relationship instability influences on children's emotional and behavioral functioning in low-income families.

The present study investigated associations between maternal relationship instability patterns and children's behavioral and emotional functioning in middle childhood in a representative sample of low-income urban families (N = 891). Data from the Three-City Study tracked maternal partnerships through the child's life, assessing total marital and cohabiting relationship transitions and delineating transitions by developmental timing, and by directionality (i.e., entrances into versus exits from partnerships). Analyses linking instability to child behaviors at age 8 found that a greater total number of maternal relationship transitions predicted higher anxious, somatic, and conduct problems, with recent transitions (in the prior 2 years) driving these results. Consideration of partnership formations versus dissolutions indicated that recent entrances into new partnerships, and entrances into cohabitations, were most consistently associated with problematic functioning across numerous aspects of children's emotional and behavioral functioning. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Parent involvement and children's academic and social development in elementary school.

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development (N = 1,364) were used to investigate children's trajectories of academic and social development across 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine within- and between-child associations among maternal and teacher reports of parent involvement and children's standardized achievement scores, social skills, and problem behaviors. Findings suggest that within-child improvements in parent involvement predict declines in problem behaviors and improvements in social skills but do not predict changes in achievement. Between-child analyses demonstrated that children with highly involved parents had enhanced social functioning and fewer behavior problems. Similar patterns of findings emerged for teacher and parent reports of parent involvement. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Is Maternal Marriage Beneficial for Low-Income Adolescents?

The present study investigated the association of mothers' marriage and changes in young adolescents' cognitive and socioemotional development and changes in family processes. Analyses employed longitudinal data from the Three-City Study to track maternal partnerships for 860 lowincome adolescents (10-14 years-old in Wave 1) across a 16 month period. No short-term benefits or risks emerged for youth when mothers entered marriage, with few changes in family or maternal functioning linked with marriage formation as well. In contrast, adolescents in stably married families experienced improved academic, behavioral, and psychological well-being compared to youth in stable cohabiting or single-parent families. Stable marriage was similarly linked to improvements across multiple domains of home and mothers' functioning. These patterns were not moderated by the male partner's identity (biological father or stepfather). Results support the benefits of stable marriage on youth development, but suggest that policies supporting movements into new marriages may not result in improved adolescent or family functioning, at least in the short term.

Maternal Welfare and Employment Experiences and Adolescent Well-Being: Do Mothers' Human Capital Characteristics Matter?

Using a representative sample of over 900 low-income urban families from the Three-City Study, analyses assessed whether maternal human capital characteristics moderate relationships between mothers' welfare and employment experiences and young adolescents' well-being. Results indicate synergistic effects whereby greater maternal education and literacy skills enhanced positive links between mothers' new or sustained employment and improvements in adolescent cognitive and psychosocial functioning. Greater human capital also enhanced the negative links between loss of maternal employment and adolescent functioning. Mothers' entrances onto welfare appeared protective for adolescents of mothers with little education but predicted decreased psychosocial functioning among teens of more educated mothers. Results suggest that maternal human capital characteristics may alter the payback of welfare and work experiences for low-income families.