A Strength-Based Framework for Realizing Latino Young Children’s Potential

Abstract

Hispanic children experience poverty at rates two to three times higher than white children. Latino households with children, in general, have high parental employment coupled with low levels of parental education and stagnant parental earnings relative to non-Latino peers. While many Latino children live in neighborhoods that do not have access to high-quality early education, Latino children, on average, are raised in a home environment that offers economic stability and security, the presence of two parents, and socially supported family and community networks. Furthermore, though Hispanic children’s school achievement outcomes lag behind those of their peers, their socio-emotional developmental outcomes are on the same level or better. Latino children are raised in environments with the ingredients needed to achieve their potential. We use this foundation to propose a strength-based framework for guiding policy investment on Latino children and families.

Literacy Measures That Leverage the Strengths of Spanish-Speaking Latino Kindergarteners

“…Prior research has called for valid strengths-based and culturally relevant measures that leverage children's eco-cultural assets to assess the language and literacy skills of Latino children (Fiestas & Peña, 2004; Gennetian et al, 2021). Our study contributes to prior literature in two ways.…”

“…Strengths-based and culturally relevant measures effectively leverage the eco-cultural assets of students (Fiestas & Peña, 2004), which are competencies nurtured by the daily lived experiences of minority students (i.e., proximal ecologies) and the cultural beliefs and values of their communities (i.e., distal ecologies) (Garcia-Coll et al, 1996). A focus on eco-cultural assets (i.e., strengths-based approach) elevates and respects the values, knowledge, and skills of these historically marginalized and oppressed students and their communities; this approach contrasts with a focus on the so-called “gaps” (i.e., deficit approach), which emphasizes what these dual-language students lack relative to their middle-class White peers (Gennetian et al, 2021).…”

Latinx Families’ Strengths and Resilience Contribute to Their Well-being

“…Our review is guided by two frameworks: the strength-based integrated framework and the relational developmental systems framework. 29,30 The strength-based integrated framework integrates economic and human development perspectives to understand how to best foster the strengths of families and children of color. 30 It incorporates promotive (e.g., adaptive culture, acculturation) as well as risk factors (e.g., racism, various forms of segregation) that are unique to families of color.…”

“…29,30 The strength-based integrated framework integrates economic and human development perspectives to understand how to best foster the strengths of families and children of color. 30 It incorporates promotive (e.g., adaptive culture, acculturation) as well as risk factors (e.g., racism, various forms of segregation) that are unique to families of color. 40 The relational developmental systems framework is an ecological perspective that situates the child within multiple systems, such as family, schools, communities, and cultures.…”

“…In both the strength-based integrated framework and the relational developmental systems framework, the concept of resilience integrates both individual-and family-level resilience. 30,41 Therefore, while we organize this review thematically, we indicate which of the three levels of promotive and protective factors-individual-level factors, parenting, and family-level factors-each group of findings involves.…”