Most studies of mirror writing have focused on specific populations (e.g., pathological cases) or conditions (e.g., right-handed individuals writing with their left hand); hence, many simple questions about mirror writing in typically developing 5-year-old children remain unanswered. The present study addresses 2 simple but important issues conceming the relation between (a) mirror copying single characters (digits and capital letters) and mirror writing the same characters from memory and (b) mirror writing single characters and mirror writing whole words (e.g., 1st name). To shed light on these issues, the authors carried out 3 experimental studies of children at écoles matemelles in France. The results offer new insights into the phenomenon of mirror writing. A copying task generated considerably fewer mirror writings than a writing-from-memory task, and there was a significant but weak correlation (r^ = .22) between single-character mirror writing and name mirror writing. Academic level correlated positively with the mirror writing of characters (rj = .15); however, it correlated more positively with correct writing (r^ = .32) and negatively with no (or other incorrect) writing (r^ = -.45). This suggests that the mirror writings may occur (depending on the context) between some other incorrect writings (or absence of writing) and correct writings in the development of almost all children. In addition, contextual or situational factors, such as the preceding writing or the position of the writing on the page, had a much stronger infiuence on mirror writing than individual factors, such as writing hand or gender. German articles on mirror writing. However, in recent decades, mirror writing has been discussed only spasmodically (Ellis, 1988), and most research has focused on pathological cases, specific populations, left-handed persons, or children with leaming disabilities. Consequently, many simple but fundamental issues about the normal development of mirror writing remain unresolved, including the relationships between tnirror copying single characters (digits and capital letters) and mirror writing the same characters from memory and between mirror writing single characters and mirror writing whole words (e.g., first name). The The authors thank M.-B. Parisot, an experienced primary school teacher who served as second judge in the coding of the writings of Experiments la and 2, and O. Bartlett, A. Breton, C. Martignon, and M. Traore, who tested the children and coded the writings in Experiment lb. We are also grateful to the participating children, parents, teachers, directors, educational advisers, and education inspectors for their cooperation.

International audienceThe present study examined the hypothesis that parental self-efficacy and parental involvement in children’s education mediate the link between family socioeconomic status and children’s academic achievement. We used a multidimensional approach and a structural equation model combining all the study variables to test our hypothesis on both mothers and fathers. Our research examined 203 parents and their children attending the first or second year (CE1 or CE2) of elementary school in seven different schools. This is the first study of its type to be carried out on a sample of French families. Results for the mothers support our main hypothesis of a mediating effect of parental self-efficacy and parental involvement on children’s academic achievement. However, our hypothesis was not supported in the case of the fathers and we noted several differences between mothers and fathers

Résumé Cette recherche a porté sur 179 parents et leurs enfants scolarisés en CE1 (deuxième année de l’enseignement élémentaire en France) dans 8 écoles différentes. Elle examine les liens qui existent entre le sentiment de compétence parentale, la participation parentale au travail scolaire et les performances scolaires des enfants. Un modèle explicatif des performances scolaires a été construit mettant en relation les différentes variables de l’étude. La conformité des données au modèle théorique a été testée par des analyses structurelles effectuées à l’aide des logiciels LISREL (version 8.50). Les résultats montrent l’adéquation des données au modèle, qui explique environ 39 % de la variance des performances scolaires. Des liens significatifs entre les différentes variables du modèle sont mis en évidence, notamment entre le sentiment de compétence parentale, la participation parentale au travail scolaire et les performances scolaires de l’enfant.

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