Objectives
Our immediate objective is to present the results from an exploratory, cross-sectional, hierarchical regression model in which we estimated the relative importance of caregivers’ literacy-promoting activities in encouraging the motor, social, and cognitive development of the preschool-aged children in their care. Our ultimate objective is to build an effective intervention that will strengthen caregivers’ literacy-promoting activities, thereby improving the motor, social, and cognitive skills of their in-care preschool children.
Method
Participants. The sample, drawn from year 2013-2014 data from the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project (Flynn, Vincent, & Miller, 2011), included 520 young children in care, 289 boys (56%) and 231 girls (44%). They were 12-47 months of age (M = 29.0, SD = 10.3), and 70% had been full-term at birth, 37% had a developmental delay, and 11% had a developmental disability.
Measures. The child’s standard score on the Motor and Social Development scale (MSD; US National Center for Health Statistics, 1981) measured his/her motor, social, and cognitive development. The caregiver’s literacy-promoting activities and the child’s general health and emotional and behavioural development were assessed with measures from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Statistics Canada, 1999).
Data analysis. A hierarchical regression model was estimated, with the child’s MSD score regressed, in three successive steps, on 2 control variables (child gender and age), two risk factors (child developmental delay and developmental disability), and four protective factors (child’s full-term status at birth, good versus poor general health, and emotional and behavioural development [log], and caregiver’s literacy activities [T-score]).
Results
The mean standard score of the sample on the MSD scale (M = 88.67; Mdn = 89.0; SD = 15.7) was 0.76 SDs below the population mean (M = 100, SD = 15.0). A statistically significant increment (p < .001) in the amount of variance accounted for in the MSD scores was found at each step in the hierarchical regression, with the controls accounting for 3% of the total variance, the risk factors for 22%, and the protective factors for 7% (for a total of 32%). All of the predictors within each step were also significant (p < .05 to p < .001), a product of our exploratory model-building. At the final (third) step, however, neither gender nor age were any longer significant, suggesting mediation by the risk and protective factors.
At the final step in the model, the largest to smallest beta (i.e., partial standardized regression) coefficients were, in order of their absolute (±) values, as follows: child’s developmental delay: β = -.30, p < .001; caregiver’s literacy-promoting activities: β = .22, p < .001; and child’s developmental disability: β = -.15, p < .001, emotional and behavioural development: β = .09, p < .05, general health: β = .08, p < .05, full-term status at birth: β = .08, p < .05, gender: β = .04, ns, and age: β = -.03, ns.
Implications
We intend to extend this initial exploratory model, using additional variables and years of data from the OnLAC project. Our ultimate goal is to produce an effective intervention to enhance caregivers’ literacy-promoting activities, thereby improving the motor, social, cognitive, emotional, literacy, and numeracy development of the young children in their care.
Mental health of children and young people in care , Education and qualification of children and young people in care
