Parent involvement as a mechanism of the effects of early childhood intervention

Abstract

There is abundant evidence that parent involvement is associated with children's academic achievement and socio-emotional development throughout childhood and into adolescence. However, the mechanisms through which parent involvement impacts children's later outcomes are unclear. Using data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study of the Child-Parent Centers (n = 1,539), this study investigated whether different mediators explain the process from parent involvement to children's long-term outcomes, including educational attainment, criminal history, and substance abuse. Variations in influences by typologies of parent involvement and adult outcomes were examined. Three main results were found for the 1,421 study participants with available outcome data. First, two dimensions of parent involvement emerged- school parent involvement and home parent involvement. School parent involvement predicted later academic outcomes as well as substance abuse and crime outcomes. Home parent involvement predicted educational attainment. Second, mediation analyses revealed that school parent involvement was a mediator of the effect of early childhood intervention on later educational attainment. Third, childhood task orientation, problem behaviors, and frustration tolerance mediated the effect of school parent involvement process on educational attainment. Based on these results, policy findings and future directions are discussed.