Beyond Supportive Parenting: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Preschoolers' Self-Regulatory Competencies in the Relation Between Supportive Parenting and Academic Readiness Outcomes Among Families Participating in Head Start

Abstract

Abstract

Preschool is a critical context in which children gain and exercise the skills necessary to be ready to enter school (Gottfried & Kim, 2015). Not all children, however, are able to access such formalized preschool opportunities. Specifically, children living in poverty are less likely to attend formal preschool and may also face other inequalities and structural barriers that may challenge their ability to become ready for school (Ansari & Winsler, 2012). Parenting, however, provides another way in which children may become academically ready to enter school. Theories of parenting, poverty, and development highlight the challenges associated with parenting in the context of poverty, and the subsequent consequences for children’s school related outcomes. The role of supportive parenting, however, as it relates to the development of self-regulation and academic outcomes was largely unexamined. The current study built upon traditional frameworks to explore the mediating and moderating role of children’s regulatory competencies in the relation between supportive parenting and children’s academic readiness outcomes in the context of poverty. There were two aims of the study. The first aim was to explore the mediating role of attention and emotion regulation in the relation between supportive parenting and math and literacy outcomes. The second aim was to explore the role of children’s self-regulatory competencies as moderators in the relation between supportive parenting and math and literacy outcomes. Results revealed no support for mediation. Results of moderation analyses revealed that children’s regulatory competencies moderated the relation between supportive parenting and literacy outcomes. Results were discussed, as well as limitations of the study, implications, and future directions.