Parental (STEM) Occupations, the Home Numeracy Environment, and Kindergarten Children’s Numerical Competencies

Children’s early numerical competencies are of great importance for later academic achievement. Young children gain these competencies in the context of the home numeracy environment (HNE). Additionally, child characteristics and families’ socioeconomic status (SES) are associated with children’s co...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education sciences 2021-12, Vol.11 (12), p.819
Main Authors: Mues, Anna, Birtwistle, Efsun, Wirth, Astrid, Niklas, Frank
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Child Development
Children & youth
children’s numerical competencies
Correlation
Educational Attainment
Educational Environment
Families & family life
Family Environment
Foreign Countries
Grade 1
home numeracy environment (HNE)
Individualized Instruction
Kindergarten
Language Skills
Learning
Literacy
Longitudinal Studies
Mathematical Aptitude
Mathematics
Mathematics Achievement
Mathematics Education
Mathematics Instruction
Mathematics Skills
Numeracy
Occupational training
Occupations
Parent Background
parental occupations
Parents & parenting
Professions
Science Careers
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic Status
socioeconomic status (SES)
STEM
STEM Education
Students
Teaching
Young Children
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Children’s early numerical competencies are of great importance for later academic achievement. Young children gain these competencies in the context of the home numeracy environment (HNE). Additionally, child characteristics and families’ socioeconomic status (SES) are associated with children’s competencies. In this study, we investigated parents’ occupations (i.e., STEM or non-STEM occupation) as a specific aspect of the SES to understand whether parental occupations are associated with children’s numerical competencies and whether such an association may depend on the HNE. We analysed data from a sample of N = 190 children (Mage = 63.58 months; SD = 4.41) at two measurement points. Correlational analyses and crossed-lagged models were conducted to predict children’s numerical competencies by a global measure of the HNE and parental STEM vs. non-STEM occupations. We found significant associations between parents’ learned and current occupations and the HNE. Further, significant associations between parents’ learned occupations and children’s numerical competencies were observed. However, parents’ current occupations were not significantly associated with children’s numerical competencies. Consequently, more specific facets of the SES instead of a global measure seem to be associated with children’s numerical competencies. A greater focus on specific differences between family characteristics and their potential impact on children’s HNE and the development of their numerical competencies seems expedient.
ISSN:2227-7102
2227-7102
DOI:10.3390/educsci11120819