Family Functioning and Early Learning Practices in Immigrant Homes

Abstract

Poverty-related developmental-risk theories dominate accounts of uneven levels of household functioning and effects on children. But immigrant parents may sustain norms and practices-stemming from heritage culture, selective migration, and social support-that buffer economic exigencies. Comparable levels of social-emotional functioning in homes of foreign-born Latino mothers were observed relative to native-born Whites, despite sharp social-class disparities, but learning activities were much weaker, drawing on a national sample of mothers with children aging from 9 to 48months (n=5,300). Asian-heritage mothers reported weaker social functioning-greater martial conflict and depression-yet stronger learning practices. Mothers' migration history, ethnicity, and social support helped to explain levels of functioning, after taking into account multiple indicators of class and poverty.

From Learning Beliefs to Achievement Among Chinese Immigrant and European American Preschool Children

“…Preschool children may be too young to comprehend the complexity surrounding teaching and teacher authority. Nonetheless, CCIs did demonstrate greater achievement in Y2, which is consistent with the general trend among middle‐class CCIs (Jung et al., ; Li et al., ).…”

Center-Based Preschool and School Readiness Skills of Children From Immigrant Families

“…In contrast, Mexican immigrant parents tend to place more value on early behavioral socialization (Arcia & Johnson, 1998;Reese, Balzano, Gallimore, & Goldenberg, 1995) and perceive themselves as playing a less central role in the early academic skills development of children (Harris, Jamison, & Trujillo, 2008;Reese & Gallimore, 2000). These beliefs are related to differences in early reading practices in the home environment (Jung, Fuller, & Galindo, 2012). Indeed, Koury and Votruba-Drzal (2014) have shown that there are differences in several aspects of children's home environments related to parental region of origin, including the provision of cognitive stimulation and emotional support.…”

Latino Maternal Literacy Beliefs and Practices Mediating Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Education Effects in Predicting Child Receptive Vocabulary

“…Latina mothers, however, may conceive of shared reading as an opportunity to impart moral lessons rather than an opportunity for instruction on discrete literacy skills (Perry et al, 2008) or may simply reflect a lack of knowledge and/or experience with the expectations of the U.S. educational system (McWayne et al, 2013). This belief in turn may explain why Latina mothers, relative to White mothers, report reading less to children (Hammer et al, 2010) beginning as early as 24 months, with the frequency declining over time (Jung, Fuller, & Galindo, 2012).…”