Editorial: Children's competencies development in the home learning environment
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.706360/full
In the paper by Napoli et al. the authors examine characteristics of the child and family that relate to the frequency of parent-child literacy and numeracy engagement. Although some characteristics (i.e., parent education and children’s age) were related to both literacy and numeracy engagement, parents’ beliefs about the importance of literacy were not related to literacy engagement but beliefs about the importance of numeracy were related to numeracy engagement.
In the fourth paper by Linberg et al. data from the German NEPS was also used to investigate the specific relations between quantitative (e.g., frequency of shared book reading) and qualitative (e.g., sensitivity and stimulation during parent-child interaction) indicators of the HLE at age 2 years, as well as the specific impact of attending low threshold parent-child courses in shaping children’s vocabulary development between 2 and 3 years of age. The results indicate that the attending parent-child courses enriches both aspects of the HLE, which in turn predict children’s vocabulary development. The authors conclude that parent-child courses may be an achieveable target for interventions aimed at very young children.
In a longitudinal study by Niklas et al., 133 children aged about 3 years at t1 and parents participated. Here, data related to socioeconomic status, home literacy environment, parental attitudes towards shared reading, and children’s linguistic competencies were gathered. The results indicate that parental attitudes towards shared reading seemed to be stable across a 1-year period and that the home literacy environment mediated the effect of parental attitudes towards children’s linguistic outcomes. As these attitudes vary in the context of different family socioeconomic backgrounds, the authors conclude that they may also be a good target for interventions
The first paper by Purpura et al. examined the factor structure of the HME (general HME factor, direct numeracy, indirect numeracy, and spatial) and tested the association of these factors with children’s numeracy, mathematical language, and spatial skills of 129 pre-schoolers from the US. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a bifactor model fitted the data best (spatial and a general numeracy factor). In structural equation modelling analyses, only the numeracy factor was able to predict child outcomes when controlling for child and family characteristics. The results highlight the importance of parent-child engagement in specific aspects of mathematics-related activities.
The fourth paper is a review by Dowker considering the relation between parents’ mathematics anxiety and the home numeracy environment of pre-school-aged children. Dowker argues for the importance of a broader definition of the home mathematics environment that includes parent mathematics attitudes in addition to activities. The author also highlights several areas for future research, including broader aspects of mathematics than just numeracy (e.g., measurement) and different aspects of parents’ mathematics anxiety.
Finally, the review by Mutaf-Yildiz et al. analysed the association of parent-child interactions with numerical content with children’s performance in mathematical tasks. Thirty-seven articles were included in their systematic review and the authors found a positive association between home numeracy and children’s mathematical skills. Here, more advanced, compared with basic, numeracy interactions were associated with child competencies and most studies used questionnaires, surveyed mothers, analysed a comprehensive total score of mathematical competencies, and focused on formal home numeracy activities.