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Family Poverty, Family Processes and Children’s Preschool Achievement: Understanding the Unique Role of Fathers

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Abstract

Developmental research has highlighted the importance of fathers for children’s early academic success, and growing evidence suggests that children living in poverty may benefit the most from positive father involvement. Using a subsample of children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), this study examined direct and mediated pathways from family poverty to children’s preschool achievement. Analyses revealed that poverty had a more consistent negative association with fathers’ parenting than mothers’ parenting and fathers’ parenting was a more consistent mediator of links between poverty and child achievement than mothers’ parenting. Specifically, fathers’ and mothers’ warmth as well as fathers’ home learning stimulation mediated the relation between poverty and children’s reading scores. Furthermore, fathers’ warmth and mothers’ home learning stimulation mediated the relation between poverty and children’s math scores. Results point to the unique contribution of fathers to children’s preschool achievement and imply that poverty is differentially associated with fathers’ and mothers’ parenting practices during the early childhood period.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia University, New York, 10027, New York, USA

    Claire E. Baker

  2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27516, North Carolina, USA

    Kirsten L. Kainz & Elizabeth R. Reynolds

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  1. Claire E. Baker
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  2. Kirsten L. Kainz
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Correspondence to Claire E. Baker.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

We used secondary data analysis so there was no direct contact with actual human participants in this study.

Informed Consent

This was a secondary data analysis of data from the ECLS-B. Informed consent was obtained by the U.S. Department of Education from teachers and parents prior their inclusion in the study. For more information on informed consent procedures see Nord et al. 2004 listed below.

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Baker, C.E., Kainz, K.L. & Reynolds, E.R. Family Poverty, Family Processes and Children’s Preschool Achievement: Understanding the Unique Role of Fathers. J Child Fam Stud 27, 1242–1251 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0947-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0947-6

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