Poverty Experiences of Young Children and the Quality of Their Home Environments

Abstract

This paper assesses the relative contribution of maternal, household, child, and poverty characteristics to the quality of the home environment. The sample consists of 1,887 children birth to 4 years old from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Ordinary least‐squares regression is used to explore conceptually distinct aspects of children's poverty experiences. Poverty variables are found to have a statistically significant effect on the quality of the home environment, after controlling for the effects of other variables in the models. Statistically significant interactions among poverty variables are identified. A major finding is that improvements in family income have the strongest effects on the quality of the home environment for children who were born poor or lived much of their lives in poverty. The conclusion emphasizes implications for future research.

The Quality of Home Environment in Brazil: An Ecological Model

“…There was, however, a significant effect for child gender ( .95 F 1,176 = 4.20, p < .05), suggesting that girls in our sample had a better home environment than boys. This finding corroborates an earlier report by Garrett, Ng'andu, and Ferron (1994). Table 2 shows the correlation matrix of all variables.…”

Linking Parent Involvement With Student Achievement: Do Race and Income Matter?

“…Previous research supports the hypothesis that at-home parenting practices and involvement with the school explain much of the variation in school performance on the basis of group-level distinctions such as race-ethnicity, income, and parent education (G. J. Duncan, Yeung, Brooks-Gunn, & Smith, 1998;Garrett, Ng'andu, & Ferron, 1994; D. L. . However, little is known about the extent of across-group variation in the relationship between types of parent involvement and children's learning and achievement.…”

Parental Involvement, Instructional Expenditures, Family Socioeconomic Attributes, and Student Achievement

“…Desimone (1999) stated that parental involvement in learning at school and at home is considered a key component of school reform. There is considerable research to support the notion that athome parenting practices, home environment, and parental involvement with school activities explain many of the variations in achievement scores on the basis of ethnicity, family income, and parental education (Duncan, Yeung, Brooks-Gunn, & Smith, 1998;Garrett, Ng'andu, & Ferron, 1994). In this study, we did not analyze the combined effects of parental involvement at home and at school on academic achievement; we examined only the parental involvement at school measured in terms of volunteered hours per 100 students.…”