Paternal and Maternal Cognitive Engagement and Preschoolers’ Literacy Skills Across Six Ethnic Groups in Suriname

Abstract

Using propositions in cultural-ecological and maternal and paternal engagement models, this study utilized the 2018 UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys to examine which sociodemographic factors were associated with fathers’ and mothers’ cognitive engagement and the associations between parental and maternal cognitive engagement and preschoolers’ literacy skills in Amerindian, Maroon, Creole, Javanese, Hindustani, and Mixed-ethnic families in Suriname ( N = 1,008). After establishing measurement invariance in constructs across ethnic groups, analyses revealed few consistent sociodemographic predictors of paternal and maternal cognitive engagement. Patterns of associations between paternal and maternal cognitive engagement and children’s literacy skills were not uniform across ethnic groups. Data have implications for understanding mothers’ and fathers’ contributions to children’s early literacy skills development and for developing parenting intervention programs in Suriname.

Bahamian Fathers' Involvement with Their Child’s Schooling: To What Extent does Family Structure Matter?

“…Thus, findings also underscore the gender norm that parent involvement with schooling is more likely to be the responsibility of mothers than fathers. Overall, our findings support the growing body of literature on the differential impact of Caribbean fathers living with their children (Roopnarine & Yildirim, 2019;Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2021). They also call for Bahamian society to reject positioning single-parent headed homes as deficient when it comes to parent involvement with school.…”

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

“…Parents' responses to the four items were summed to create the parental cognitive engagement construct ( M = 3.73, SD = 2.41). As with past research (Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2021; Jeong et al, 2016), this measure indicated strong construct validity and reliability (McDonald's omega was 0.91).…”

“…In formulating our hypothesis, we relied on properties within developmental psychopathology regarding adversity and resilience (Masten & Cicchetti, 2010; Rutter & Sroufe, 2000) and the family stress model on socioeconomic risk, and the extant research on the influence of parental input and training on childhood development in the Caribbean (Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2021). It is hypothesised that parental cognitive engagement and parental guidance with children at home will mediate the associations between socioeconomic and poorly resourced educational home environment risks on children's literacy and social skills during the preschool years.…”

“…Utilising perspectives within frameworks on adversity and resilience (Masten & Cicchetti, 2010; Rutter & Sroufe, 2000) researchers have identified multisystem risk and protective factors that have consequences for childhood development. 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).…”

“…Thus, we chose early literacy and social skills as outcome measures. It is well documented that enrolment in preschool, ethnicity, children's age, gender and area of residence are all associated with children's cognitive and social skills across Caribbean countries (Dede Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2017, 2021; Ricketts & Anderson, 2008; Roopnarine & Dede Yildirim, 2019). As such, these variables were entered as covariates in our assessment model.…”