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

Abstract

This study examined the mediating role of parental cognitive engagement and parental guidance on the associations between family socioeconomic and home environment resource risk factors and children's literacy and social skills in Guyana. The sample consisted of 1208 families from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds drawn from the 2019 to 2020 country-level UNICEF MICS data. Caregivers provided assessments of socioeconomic conditions, educational resources in the home environment, cognitive engagement, parental guidance and children's literacy and social skills. Family socioeconomic risk had an indirect association with social skills through cognitive engagement. Home environment educational resource risk had indirect associations with children's literacy and social skills through parental guidance. Findings are discussed in terms of identifying protective factors within families in low- and middle-income Caribbean countries that can better inform intervention efforts geared at reducing risks to childhood development.