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Environmental risk factors and children’s literacy skills during the transition to elementary school

¹ University of Porto, Portugal
² Vanderbilt University, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: joana.cadima{at}gmail.com.

	Abstract

This study examined the effects of the accumulation of family risk factors on children’s literacy skills, both in preschool and in first grade. Children’s (N = 106) vocabulary, conventions of print, phonological awareness, knowledge of letters, reading decoding, and reading comprehension were assessed. Family risk factors, consisting of household composition, years of maternal education, job situation of the mother, and income level of the family, were combined to create a cumulative risk index. Canonical correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed. Results revealed the negative impact of cumulative risk index on both the preschool and first-grade literacy skills. In addition, the number of risk factors present in the family context negatively predicted the majority of the firstgrade literacy skills, after taking preschool skills into account. The results provide further evidence of the negative impact of the accumulation of family risks on child literacy development and call attention to the importance of early experiences for later academic achievement.

First published on September 10, 2009, doi:10.1177/0165025409345045
This version was published on September 28, 2009


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