Maternal and Paternal Cognitive Engagement and Children’s Literacy Skills in 25 African Countries

Abstract

There is increasing interest in promoting positive parenting to improve childhood development in low- and middle-income countries. Following propositions in parenting and cultural-ecological frameworks about the importance of early parent-child engagement in fostering children’s literacy skills, we used the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Surveys to assess the associations between maternal and paternal book reading, storytelling, and naming/counting and early literacy skills in 90,397 families and their preschool-aged children in 25 low- and middle-income African countries. Individual participant data meta-analysis indicated strong associations between maternal and paternal engagement in reading, storytelling, and naming/counting and children’s letter recognition, reading simple words, and recognizing symbols. Preschool enrollment and maternal education consistently moderated the associations between maternal and paternal engagement activities and children’s literacy skills. These findings are in agreement with those found in the high-income countries and have implications for the transferability of parenting practices from high-income to low- and middle-income countries in efforts to improve the early academic skills of young children.

Socioeconomic and home educational resource risk factors and Children's literacy and social skills in Guyanese families: Mediating role of parental cognitive engagement and parental guidance

“…Maternal cognitive engagement was positively related to children's literacy skills in Belize and the Dominican Republic and paternal engagement in cognitive engagement activities was positively related to children's literacy skills in Barbados and Guyana. Enrolment in preschool and educational materials in the home environment were the most consistent predictors of both parental engagement and children's literacy skills across these and other Caribbean countries (Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2017;Roopnarine & Dede Yildirim, 2019). Two other studies have found direct negative associations between parental harshness and prosocial behaviours in Guyanese families and in different ethnic groups in Trinidad and Tobago (Roopnarine, Jin, & Krishnakumar, 2013;.…”

“…As a form of child training, parental guidance is highly valued in Caribbean cultural communities (Griffith & Grolnick, 2014) and is systematically implemented to encourage the acquisition of early academic skills and behavioural compliance (Leo-Rhynie et al, 2009). It provides an essential connection to the caregiver and is associated with social behaviours (see Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2019). In extreme poverty environments in Guyana, where children must contend with multiple risk factors in the home and the community at large, it appears that parental guidance becomes even more important.…”

“…For instance, it is well established that poverty, harsh parenting, poor neighbourhood conditions and low parental investment have deleterious effects on children's cognitive and social skills across a range of cultural communities (Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2021; Rohner, 2021; Shonkoff, 2010; Wolf & McCoy, 2019). By contrast, it has been shown that expressions of warmth, engagement in literacy‐based activities and parental guidance that involves explanations and redirection have salubrious effects on children's cognitive and social skills in different cultural communities in low‐ and middle‐income countries (Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2019; Devlin et al, 2018). However, little data exist on the role of protective factors such as parental cognitive engagement and parental guidance in mitigating the negative effects of harsh economic conditions and poor educational resources in the home environment on children's cognitive and social development in Guyana.…”

“…Two items, the wealth index quintile and household education, were included in the calculation of the socioeconomic risk index. The wealth index takes into consideration the array of household resources that represent the living conditions and challenges that families in low-and middle-income countries face in their everyday lives (see Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2019). It was calculated based on the characteristics of the household (e.g., source of drinking water, main sanitation facilities, number of rooms for sleeping, flooring materials, roof materials, wall materials and main fuel for cooking) and possessions (e.g., television, radio, table, bed, sofa, water tank, refrigerator, tractor, domestic animals and agricultural land).…”

“…Because a wide range of studies has demonstrated the detrimental effects of poverty and poorly resourced home environments on early developmental outcomes in children in the Caribbean (Ricketts & Anderson, 2008), we included indices of socioeconomic and home educational resource risk factors in our assessment model (see Figure 1). Following prior work in low-and middle-income countries on economic conditions and childhood development (Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2019), the socioeconomic risk index included a range of indicators (e.g., household characteristics and possessions) and educational attainment. A sizeable body of work (see Roopnarine et al, 2018;Shonkoff, 2010) demonstrates that the early childhood years are especially important for the development of social and cognitive skills necessary for the transition to formal schooling and academic success, formation of friendships and emotional regulation.…”