Pre-Birth Household Challenges Predict Future Child’s School Readiness and Academic Achievement

Risk and Protective Factors for Parental Involvement and Early Indicators of School Achievement in Alaska

OBJECTIVES

Parental involvement can affect child school readiness, which in turn influences subsequent child learning outcomes. While social support, stress, caregiver psychological distress, and drinking could affect parental involvement, it is unknown whether and how these factors influence downstream child learning outcomes through parental involvement and child school readiness. This study tests those associations.

METHODS

Using de-identified data provided by the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage project (N = 683), we use Structural Equation Modeling to assess direct and indirect effects of paths embedded in the proposed model.

RESULTS

This study found statistically significant indirect effects: (1) path linking stress faced by caregivers to child reading proficiency through caregiver psychological distress, parental involvement, and child school readiness, (2) path linking stress faced by caregivers to child reading proficiency through caregiver drinking, parental involvement, and child school readiness, and (3) path linking social support for caregivers to child reading proficiency through caregiver psychological distress, parental involvement, and child school readiness. Post-estimation showed that the sum of the magnitude of total effects of stress and the magnitude of total effects of support is significantly larger than either alone.

CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE

Findings suggest that reducing caregiver stress and offering social support could not only benefit caregivers but learning outcomes of their children as well. For child learning outcomes, simultaneously reducing stress and offering social support for caregivers, rather than just one of them alone, is suggested. These results are important for children, particularly for those raised by caregivers experiencing psychological distress or drinking issues.

Replication and Validation of a State-Wide Linkage Method to Estimate Incidence Proportion of Child Maltreatment

PURPOSE

To study familial factors associated with child maltreatment in a birth population, Alaska piloted a mixed-design method that linked child welfare data with the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). We replicated this approach in Oregon and validated it in both states.

METHODS

We linked vital records, child welfare, and PRAMS data to create two 2009 birth cohorts for each state: one based on vital records (full birth cohort), and one on PRAMS (stratified random sample). For each cohort we estimated the incidence proportions (IP) of child maltreatment before age nine years and compared those estimated using PRAMS with those observed using the full birth cohort.

RESULTS

The Oregon PRAMS cohort estimated that 28.7% (95% CI: 24.0, 33.4), 20.9% (17.1, 24.7), and 8.3% (6.0, 10.5) of children experienced an alleged, investigated, and substantiated maltreatment respectively, versus 32.0%, 25.0% and 9.9% from the birth cohort. The corresponding Alaska estimates were 29.1% (26.1, 32.0), 22.6% (19.9, 25.2), and 8.3% (6.7, 9.9) of children from the PRAMS cohort versus 29.1%, 23.5%, and 9.1% in the birth cohort.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence proportion of child maltreatment in two states was accurately estimated with PRAMS cohorts. Researchers can study a comprehensive set of factors that may influence child maltreatment by incorporating PRAMS into birth cohort linkages.

Understanding Family Risk and Protective Factors That Shape Child Development

Understanding the various family characteristics and contextual factors that shape children’s health and developmental outcomes is important for promoting optimal child development [...]