Does Socioeconomic Status Moderate the Relationship between Parental Involvement and Young Children’s Literacy Development?

Abstract

The difference in family socioeconomic status (SES) is a common fact in modern society. The differentiation of family SES will affect the development of children, this phenomenon has attracted the attention of domestic and foreign researchers. The discussion on the relationship between family socioeconomic status and children's academic achievement has attracted much attention in the academic community, but existing research results are inconsistent. Little research is related to whether family socioeconomic status influences the relationship between parental involvement and children’s literacy development. The purpose of the quantitative study is to investigate whether family SES including family income and parents’ education level moderates the relationship between parental involvement and children literacy development. Participants comprised 388 children aged 3 to 6 years in Chinese and their parents. The results show family income directly moderated the relationship between parent-child literacy activities and children’s literacy achievement. Mother education moderated the relationship between parent-child literacy activities and literacy achievement directly. The relationship between home literacy materials and literacy achievement was moderated by mother education either. However, there is no significant moderating effect of a father’s education on the relationship between parental involvement and children’s independent literacy practice as well as literacy achievement in this study. Keywords: literacy development, parental involvement, socioeconomic status, young children, children’s literacy