The association between playgroup participation, learning competence and social-emotional wellbeing for children aged four–five years in Australia

Abstract

DATA FROM Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children is used to examine the associations between playgroup participation and the outcomes for children aged four to five years. Controlling for a range of socioeconomic and family characteristics, playgroup participation from birth to three years was used to predict learning competence and social-emotional functioning outcomes at age four–five years. For learning competence, both boys and girls from disadvantaged families scored three–four per cent higher if they attended playgroup at ages birth–one year and two–three years compared to boys and girls from disadvantaged families who did not attend playgroup. For social and emotional functioning, girls from disadvantaged families who attended playgroup at ages birth–one year and two–three years scored nearly five per cent higher than those who did not attend. Demographic characteristics also showed that disadvantaged families were the families least likely to access these services. Despite data limitations, this study provides evidence that continued participation in playgroups is associated with better outcomes for children from disadvantaged families.

Participation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in a parent support programme: longitudinal associations between playgroup attendance and child, parent and community outcomes

“…Rates of playgroup participation reported by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents in this study are lower than the participation rates for Australian children as a whole. Hancock et al (2012) reported that over 50% of Australian children had attended a playgroup or other parent-child group at 2-3 years of age, compared with 23-28% of children in the current study. Issues of reach and retention for more socially disadvantaged families are recognized as a challenge in order to make playgroups a more effective parenting support programme Robinson et al 2011).…”

Risk Factors for Children's Receptive Vocabulary Development from Four to Eight Years in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

“…Book reading is a proximal measure of the home learning environment and is associated with variation in language abilities and foundational literacy and numeracy abilities [43] [38]. Playgroup attendance was included based on prior evidence of an association between attending playgroup and better learning (including verbal) outcomes for children growing up in disadvantaged families [44]. Hours in child care was included in our model because a high proportion of children (28%) in our sample spent more than 4 hours a day in non-parental care, during the working week.…”

A qualitative study of the role of playgroups in building community capacity

“…Despite the large number of families accessing playgroups, research on the benefits that community playgroups provide is limited. Most research has focused on the benefits for children, and it is only recently that wider benefits have been examined . These studies focus on the social benefits for parents and playgroups as sites for health promotion interventions .…”