Child Care and Early Education Research Connections

Skip to main content

Mother-child conversations at 36 months and at pre-kindergarten: Relations to children's school readiness

Description:
The contributions of mothers' and children's oral language to children's school readiness were longitudinally examined among 75 low-income mothers and children. When children were 36 months, mothers' and children's lexical diversity, mothers' wh-questions, and children's PPVT-III scores were assessed from play interactions. At pre-kindergarten, mothers and children shared a personal narrative, and various aspects of mothers' and children's narratives were coded. Children were assessed on their knowledge about print, letter-word identification, mathematical skills and sustained attention, and scores were combined into a single factor of school readiness. Structural equation analyses yielded two pathways to school readiness. Mothers' wh-questions and lexical diversity predicted children's PPVT-III scores at 36 months, which in turn predicted children's school readiness. Mothers' 36-month lexical diversity predicted mothers' narrative prompts, which related to children's narrative contributions. Children's narrative contributions in turn predicted school readiness. Mother-child conversations support the school readiness of children from low-income backgrounds. (author abstract)
Resource Type:
Reports & Papers
Country:
United States

Related resources include summaries, versions, measures (instruments), or other resources in which the current document plays a part. Research products funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation are related to their project records.

- You May Also Like

These resources share similarities with the current selection.

Mother-child play at 36 months and mother-child narratives at pre-kindergarten: Relations to children's school readiness

Reports & Papers

Early child care and mother-child interaction from 36 months through first grade

Reports & Papers

Predicting children's literacy from mother-child conversations

Reports & Papers
Release: 'v1.57.0' | Built: 2024-03-14 09:29:08 EDT