Impact of the Home Learning Environment on child cognitive development: Secondary analysis of data from 'Growing Up in Scotland'
Year: 2010
Type: other
Abstract: Cognitive and language ability in the birth cohort was measured at the 3 year contact by two assessments: the naming vocabulary and picture similarities subtests of the British Ability Scales (BAS). Statistical analysis 8.Firstly, multilevel models were constructed for each of the cognitive outcomes (BAS naming vocabulary and picture similarities at age 3 years), with the following tested as predictors: age, child gender, birth weight, number of siblings, respondent and partner (parental) education, household socioeconomic status, lone parent status, child developmental status in the first year, child health status in the first, second and third years, amount of centre-based care/education, and home area characteristics (deprivation and urban/rural). 9.From the baseline demographic multilevel models for naming vocabulary and picture similarities measures of relative over-and under-achievement were calculated for each outcome.Three categories of relative achievement (performance) were used (unexpected over-achievers, average i.e. as expected, and unexpected under-achievers) for both child outcomes.10.Each of 51 home activity items derived from the GUS interviews were analysed separately with a multinomial logistic regression for any significant association with the individual categorical variables of over-or underachievement.On the basis of these results activities were selected for inclusion in a Home Learning Environment index.11. From consideration of the analyses of over-and under-achievement and analyses of internal consistency, nine activity items were chosen to form a Home Learning Environment index.12. The correlations of this HLE index with Household socio-economic status was 0.22, with respondent's (mother's) education was 0.20, and with partner's (father's) education was 0.10.This indicates that this measure of learning opportunities provided in the home is only slightly associated with parental socio-economic and educational status and that it can be regarded as a measure that is relatively independent of family demographics.13.To further examine the effects of HLE on the prediction of achievement over that provided by family and background characteristics for children, new multilevel models for Naming Vocabulary and Picture Similarities were created that added the HLE (see Table 2).Comparison of models indicates a significant contribution of the HLE to children's attainment.Adding the HLE to the demographic model, the child level variance explained increased by 30% for Naming Vocabulary and 21% for Picture Similarities. Discussion and conclusions14.In the analyses presented in this report, it is clear that a measure of the Home Learning Environment (HLE) added to the understanding of the influences that might affect a child's cognitive development.The influence of the HLE was over
Author: Edward Melhuish
Institution: University of Wollongong
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1517750712