Longitudinal Influence of Early Parent-Child Interactions on First-Grade School Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Vocabulary Skills
Submitted by:
Jiyeon Sheo
Abstract:
As children transition from early childhood to formal schooling, understanding the precursors to their school adjustment becomes paramount. Recent research underscores that parent-child interactions prepare children for school adjustment by fostering a supportive context for learning (Bardack, Herbers & Obradović, 2017; Ki,2020). This study explores the longitudinal impact of parent-child interactions at the age of four on subsequent school adjustment in the first grade, with a focus on language—a key component of school success (Schuth, E., Köhne, J., & Weinert, S). Hence, the current study explores vocabulary skills developed in the first grade as a mediating variable between parent-child interaction and first grade school adjustment. Employing a dataset of 8,898 subjects from the sixth and eighth waves of the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC), the study utilized the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) for analysis. SPSS was employed for frequency and correlation analyses to delineate the data's fundamental properties, while AMOS facilitated structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping to explore the structural relationships among the variables and examine both direct and indirect effects of each path. Accounting for socioeconomic variables (parental educational level and household income), results revealed that parent-child interactions at age four both directly influenced first graders’ school adjustment and had an indirect effect, mediated by their vocabulary skills. These findings underscore the role of early parental interactions in shaping preschoolers’ later school adjustment, with vocabulary skills serving as a crucial bridge in this trajectory. The study emphasizes the value of nurturing parent-child interactions in early childhood and highlights the significance of vocabulary development as a foundational pillar for ensuring a smoother academic transition for children entering primary school.
Reference:
Bardack, S., Herbers, J. E., & Obradović, J. (2017). Unique contributions of dynamic versus global measures of parent–child interaction quality in predicting school adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(6), 649.
Ki, P. (2020). School adjustment and academic performance: influences of the interaction frequency with mothers versus fathers and the mediating role of parenting behaviours. Early Child Development and Care, 190(7), 1123-1135.
Schuth, E., Köhne, J., & Weinert, S. (2017). The influence of academic vocabulary knowledge on school performance. Learning and Instruction, 49, 157-165.