The Mediating Effect of the Home Learning Environment on the Relationship Between Maternal Depression and Children's Letter Knowledge
Loading...
Authors
Nartker, Courtney L.
Issue Date
2011
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Parents play a large role in children's literacy development. Although children do learn many of
the early literacy skills in preschool, they are also learning them in the home environment.
Parents must provide a rich learning environment in the home for their children and any lack of
parenting can be damaging to children's literacy development. The lack of parenting can be due
to many different reasons, one of them being maternal depression. Limited research has
investigated the effects of maternal depression on preschool children's academic outcomes,
especially those that lead to the literacy development. This study examined how maternal
depression may influence children's letter knowledge through its effects on the home learning
environment acting as a mediator. The participants were 181 mothers and their child who
attended one of three lab preschools. Mothers completed a questionnaire inquiring about their
level of depression and learning activities they provided in the home during the winter of the
school year. Children's letter knowledge was assessed directly in the spring. The results indicate
that there is no significant, direct relationship between maternal depression scores and children's
uppercase and lowercase letter knowledge. However, the home learning environment partially
mediates the relationship between maternal depression and both children's uppercase and
lowercase letter knowledge as demonstrated by use of a Sobel test.
Description
v, 33 p.
Citation
Publisher
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.