Journal of School Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp.

177 – 193, 2002

Copyright D 2002 Society for the Study of School Psychology
Printed in the USA
0022-4405/02 $ – see front matter

PII S0022-4405(02)00090-0

The Impact of Childcare and Parent–Child

Interactions on School Readiness and Social Skills
Development for Low-Income African
American Children
Christian M. Connell
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven USA

Ronald J. Prinz
University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

Low-income and African American children are at increased risk for school
readiness deficits in terms of both cognitive and social development. This study
examined the roles of childcare involvement and parent – child interaction quality
on the development of school readiness and social skills among a low-income,
minority sample of kindergarten children. Findings provide mixed evidence on the
role of childcare exposure, with early entry into childcare predicting higher levels of
social skills ratings and increased time per week in such settings predicting lower
levels of social skills development. Childcare exposure had positive, although trend-
level, relationships with other readiness-related outcomes after accounting for de-
mographic characteristics of children and their families. Parent – child interactions
characterized as structured and responsive to the child’s needs and emotions were
positively related to school readiness, social skills, and receptive communication
skills development after accounting for demographic characteristics and childcare
exposure. Implications for preventive intervention program development and the
role of school psychologists in the areas of consultation and intervention are dis-
cussed. D 2002 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier
Science Ltd

Keywords: School readiness, Social skills, Parent – child interactions, Childcare,

Cognitive development, Communication skills.

Children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families enter school less
well-prepared and ‘‘ready to learn’’ than their peers from more advantaged
backgrounds (Stipek & Ryan, 1997; Zill & Collins, 1995), with African

Received 15 March 2001; received in revised form 13 December 2001; accepted 15 January
2002.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Christian M. Connell, The Consul-
tation Center, Division of Prevention and Community Research, Department of Psychiatry,
Yale University School of Medicine, 389 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Phone: (203) 789-7645; fax: (203) 562-6355; E-mail: christian.connell@yale.edu

177
178 Journal of School Psychology

American children at particular risk due to socioeconomic disparities

(Swick, Brown, & Boutte, 1994). Research suggests that a child’s level of
academic readiness at school entry has pervasive indirect effects on later
academic achievement and socioemotional adjustment (Entwisle &
Alexander, 1993; Reynolds & Bezruczko, 1993). With school psychologists
increasingly being called upon to address readiness-related concerns in the
early primary grades, research has begun to focus on the processes that
impact school readiness prior to school entry, particularly the roles of the
home and childcare settings (Belsky & MacKinnon, 1994; Guo & Harris,
2000; Kagan, 1989; Lamberty & Crnic, 1994).
Much of the research on contextual influences of academic readiness has
focused on the role of childcare and preschool exposure for low-income
children. Beginning childcare at an earlier age has been shown to have a
strong promotive effect on readiness development (Field, 1991; Gullo &
Burton, 1992, 1993; Howes, 1988), particularly for low-income and minority
children (Haskins, 1989; Lee, Brooks-Gunn, Schnur, & Liaw, 1991).
Although empirical support for the influence of childcare on readiness is
strong, at least one large-scale study has failed to demonstrate such effects.
The National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Study
of Early Child Care reports no relationship between hours per week of
enrollment and cognitive or language skills development in early child-
hood (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2000). The authors re-
port very small effect sizes for childcare variables on cognitive abilities and
language skills assessed at 36-months (adjusted R 2 between 0.008 and
0.021). Amount of childcare exposure was unrelated to outcomes, although
small effects were attributed to childcare quality and involvement in center-
based care. Using data from the same NICHD study, Belsky, Weinraub,
Owen, and Kelly (2001) suggest children spending more time per week in
childcare arrangements evidence higher levels of aggressive behavior —
although these preliminary conclusions have been criticized by other
members of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network as overstating
the level of problem behavior observed.
Research in the area of parent– child interactions and their impact on
readiness and achievement has grown over the past decade. In general,
maternal interactions characterized by more positive affect, reduced
criticism, and a less controlling or directive approach are associated with
higher performance on school readiness indicators at school-entry and
subsequent school achievement independent of such factors as SES and
maternal IQ (Estrada, Arsenio, Hess, & Holloway, 1987; Pianta, Nimetz, &
Bennett, 1997; Pianta, Smith, & Reeve, 1991). Portes (1991) observed that
maternal verbal guidance (i.e., use of prompts and closed-ended questions,
elaboration of activities, use of cues and positive reinforcement, and use of
open-ended questions) predicted subsequent reading and language abil-
ities in a sample of young children, but noted that such behaviors were
 Connell and Prinz 179

rarely observed in low-income mothers relative to middle- and upper-

income participants.
This study examined the influence of childcare involvement and parent –
child interaction quality on the development of academic readiness and
social skills among low-income African American children. Although these
influences have been examined separately for low-income samples, few
studies have examined the unique effects of both childcare and parental
interaction on readiness outcomes in the same sample. The absence of
such research is surprising, given the growing call to understand the joint
influences of home and childcare influences on readiness development
and research that suggests such influences may be critical for low-income
children. Increased exposure to childcare settings and well-structured and
responsive parent –child interactions were hypothesized to be associated
with improved performance on a number of readiness related outcomes
including: (a) school readiness and social skills development as rated by
kindergarten teachers; (b) cognitive and communication skills develop-
ment using an independently administered standardized readiness instru-
ment; and (c) receptive communication skills development — a critical
predictor of subsequent academic achievement in the readiness literature
(Agostin & Bain, 1997).

METHOD
Participants
Participants were 47 kindergarten children participating in the federal free-
and reduced-lunch program, an available proxy for socioeconomic risk, in
an urban/suburban school district located in a medium-sized city in the
southeastern United States. Participants were selected from five participat-
ing schools with high proportions of students enrolled in the free-lunch
program (between 95% and 99% of students enrolled). A total of 68
parents and caregivers completed phone screening for the study. Eight
were not eligible for participation as they did not participate in the free-
and reduced-lunch program, and an additional 13 who met eligibility
requirements elected not to participate. All children were African Ameri-
can, 66% were female, and ages ranged from 4.8 years to 5.9 years (mean
age = 5.4 years) at the beginning of the kindergarten school year. All
children were first-time participants in kindergarten. Because each school
offered a curriculum-based, half-day preschool program available to 4-year-
old children in the district, all but one child reported participating in
childcare to some extent, with a range from 0 to 5.4 years (with 79% com-
pleting 1 year in their school’s program). Types of facilities ranged from
parental care (19%) to center-based care (60%) and educational preschool
facilities (79%). Many children participated in more than one arrangement
180 Journal of School Psychology

(typically a daycare center and educational preschool setting). Children

also differed in the number of hours spent in childcare arrangements per
week. The mean weekly rate was just over 30 h with a range from 0 to 55 h
per week.
Most of the caregivers completing survey instruments were the child’s
biological parent (87%) or grandparent (11%). Over half of the children
(62%) lived in a single-mother household, 30% resided in a two-parent
household, and 8% in other arrangements (e.g., a relative of their mother).
Just over 50% of children lived in households with an annual income of
under US$10,000 per year, and an additional 25% resided in households
reporting less than US$20,000 annually. Maternal education varied slightly,
with 51% of mothers reporting a high school or GED degree, 11% had an
associate degree, and 30% report having some college; only 8% report
having completed college or attaining an advanced degree.

Procedures
Letters providing a brief overview of the study and the activities involved
were mailed to all parents of kindergarten children at participating schools
in the fall. Parents were then contacted by phone and completed a brief
screening interview to determine eligibility and identify the primary care-
giver for participation in the study. For households without a phone,
contact with an alternate number was made and contact information for
the study was provided. Parents and children who accepted invitation to the
study and met eligibility requirements were given the option of completing
survey instruments and observational tasks at either their home or the
school’s media center during a meeting to be completed during the late fall
or early winter months. At this initial meeting, parents granted consent for
study participation and the release of end-of-year ratings by teachers on
school readiness and social skills instruments. Parents completed all survey
instruments and participated in videotaped parent –child activities during
this initial meeting. The videotaped activities involved parents and children
interacting during the completion of three brief videotaped semistructured
activities: a problem-solving activity involving block pattern-matching, a
paper-and-pencil activity related to age-appropriate number and letter
skills, and a free-play activity with a selection of age-appropriate toys and
puzzles. Parents received US$10 for participation in the observational
portion of the study.
In the late spring of the child’s kindergarten school year, children were
administered standardized readiness measures by trained graduate stu-
dents in clinical-community psychology, and kindergarten teachers con-
ducted readiness screens and a brief measure of social skills development
for all study children.
 Connell and Prinz 181

Measures
Academic readiness. Two measures of academic readiness were collected
on all participants at the end of the kindergarten school year.

Brigance K-1 Screen (BKS). The BKS (Brigance, 1987) is a standardized,

norm- and criterion-referenced readiness screen with good reliability
(a = 0.91) administered by teachers that assesses development across six ba-
sic areas: motor ability, language development, number skill, body aware-
ness, auditory discrimination, and visual discrimination. Children are asked
to complete a series of tasks (e.g., provide personal data; identify pictures,
colors, and body parts; discriminate between shapes and symbols, perform
fine and gross motor skills, etc.) and responses are rated and summed to pro-
vide a total score between 0 and 100, with higher scores indicative of higher
levels of school readiness.

Battelle developmental inventory (Battelle). The Battelle is a nationally

standardized, individually administered developmental battery for chil-
dren from birth to 8 years of age that measures school readiness across a
number of domains including personal– social, adaptive, motor, commu-
nication, and cognitive development. The Battelle has good interrater
reliability (a = 0.70 –1.0) and test – retest reliability (a = 0.71 – 0.99) based
on data from a normative sample (Newborg, Stock, Wnek, Guidubaldi, &
Svinicki, 1988). Standard scores for the cognitive development and com-
munication skills scale scores, as well as the receptive communication skills
subscale, were used in the present analyses. Research has shown each of
the domain scores to have a high degree of internal consistency (Newborg
et al., 1988).

Socioemotional development. Each child’s kindergarten teacher com-

pleted the Walker Survey Instrument (WSI, Walker & McConnell, 1988) —
a brief version of the Walker & McConnell Scale of Social Competence and
School Adjustment (WMS). The WSI is an 18-item rating scale (a 19th item
related to independent study skills was omitted due to the age and grade of
the current sample) completed by teachers designed for the screening and
identification of social skills deficits among school-aged children. The 18
items represent items with factor loadings that discriminate well between
subscales, and have been used in a state-wide evaluation of early childhood
mental health services that screened over 62,000 youth between 1996 and
2000 (Stieber, personal communication, July 24, 2001). Teachers rate
specific social behaviors (e.g., compromises with peers when situation calls
for it, interacts with a number of different peers, has good work habits) on
a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 ( frequently). A mean score for
the instrument was taken, with higher scores indicative of higher ratings of
social ability, and analyses were run using the raw mean score. Previous
182 Journal of School Psychology

research with the full version of the WMS has shown the total score to have
strong internal consistency (a = 0.97; Walker & McConnell, 1988). The
items used in the present study demonstrated comparable internal reli-
ability (a = 0.95).

Predictor variables
Demographic background characteristics. Child gender and maternal
education level were collected during the fall survey administration.
Maternal education was coded on a scale from 1 to 8 (attendance in
elementary school through completion of a doctoral/professional degree
program). Demographic characteristics were included as covariates to
account for the relationship between child and family background and
readiness-related outcomes.

Childcare exposure. Amount of childcare experience was assessed by

parent report using two indicators of childcare experience: number of
years enrolled in prekindergarten childcare and average amount of time
per week in childcare. Weekly childcare time was subsequently divided into
five categories: less than 10, 11 – 20, 21 – 30, 31 –40, and more than 40 h per
week. Previous research suggests that these two factors are critical to the
prediction of end-of-kindergarten readiness, cognitive development, and
socioemotional development, especially among at-risk youth (Field, 1991;
Howes, 1990).

Parent– child interaction. Ratings of parent – child interaction involved

the coding of parent –child videotaped interactions across four dimensions
using a behavioral coding scheme developed by Pianta, Erickson, Wagner,
Kreutzer, & Egeland (1990). These dimensions included goal-corrected
behavior, parental control, quality of instruction, and affective mutuality.
Pianta, et al. (1997) provides a detailed description of each of these di-
mensions which are rated on a seven-point Likert-type scale. Goal-corrected
behavior refers to the mother’s ability to assist the child in task completion at
a level appropriate to the needs of the child, adjusting assistance as needed
and monitoring the child’s ability to complete tasks. Parental control reflects
the degree to which the parent is able to respect of the child’s autonomy
while providing a clear structure to the tasks, with low scores indicative of
control problems — either overcontrol or undercontrol — as well as a high
degree of conflict occurring during the activity. Quality of instruction refers
to a mother’s ability to provide appropriate instruction toward the comple-
tion of an activity. Finally, affective mutuality reflects the degree to which
emotion is expressed between mother and child and the level of intimacy or
security expressed during activity. Each of these rating scales had behavioral
descriptors at each scale point to increase the precision with which
 Connell and Prinz 183

appropriate ratings could be assigned, with higher scores indicative of more

competent and less problematic interaction styles.
A team of three coders (all Caucasian; two MSW graduates with
experience in family therapy with at-risk populations and an individual
with a BA in psychology) made ratings. All coders participated in a 3-h
training on the coding procedure including several practice attempts using
videos of parents and children engaged in similar activities through a
separate study. Videos were randomly assigned to coders and a random
selection of 25% of the tapes were assigned to two members of the coding
team to assess interrater reliability. Coders assigned families ratings on
each dimension for each task, and a mean score for each dimension was
created across the three tasks. Previous research using these scales has
shown strong interrater reliability (Pianta et al., 1997). In the present study,
interrater reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient (Shrout &
Fleiss, 1979) was mixed across dimensions (0.76 for goal-corrected behav-
ior, 0.54 for parental control, 0.48 for quality of instruction, and 0.72 for
affective mutuality). Because of the high degree of intercorrelation
between these four dimensions, scores across the dimensions were sum-
med into an overall parent – child interaction composite score in accord-
ance with the practice of the scale’s authors (Pianta et al., 1997). The
intraclass correlation between coders using this composite score was good
(0.72) and the composite had high internal reliability (a = 0.94). Higher
scores on the composite measure were characterized by parental provision
of higher levels of appropriate structure and responsiveness to the child’s
needs across the three tasks.

DATA ANALYSIS
Missing data was replaced using the SPSS (2000) 10.1 implementation of
the EM algorithm (expectation maximization). EM is a statistical techni-
que for imputing missing data that employs an iterative estimation
procedure to converge at a maximum-likelihood estimate that averages
over the distribution of missing values (Dempster, Laird, & Rubin, 1977;
Little & Rubin, 1987; Schafer, 1997). EM assumes that data is missing as
the result of a random process or that the mechanism resulting in missing
data is accessible (i.e., present in the data that has been collected on those
subjects for which a portion of data is missing; Graham & Donaldson,
1993; Rubin, 1991). Little’s multivariate test of MCAR, a statistical proce-
dure for testing the degree to which data is missing completely at random,
was nonsignificant, v2 (74) = 75.01, P = 0 .44, indicating that the pattern of
missing data is consistent with a random process (Little & Schenker,
1995). In one case, a teacher failed to provide information on a child’s
end-of-year BKS score, and in two other instances families did not
 184
Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations Among Predictor and Outcome Variables

Journal of School Psychology

M S.D. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)
Predictor variables
(1) Child gender (female = 0, male = 1) – –
(2) Maternal education 3.06 1.37 0.00
(3) Years in childcare 2.53 1.65
0.02 0.15
(4) Hours per week in childcare 30.19 13.10 0.14 0.11 0.45**
(5) Parent – child interaction 17.62 5.32
0.34* 0.16 0.00
0.13

Outcome variables
(6) Readiness (end-of-year) 91.42 10.14
0.21 0.31* 0.22 0.03 0.37*
(7) Social skills 3.71 0.79
0.40** 0.22 0.20
0.22 0.46** 0.54**
(8) Cognitive skills (total) 36.40 9.14
0.23 0.39** 0.28y 0.31* 0.30* 0.41** 0.37*
(9) Communication skills (total) 33.81 6.03
0.21 0.33* 0.31* 0.06 0.37* 0.50** 0.29* 0.48**
(10) Receptive communication 39.19 8.51
0.33* 0.22 0.37* 0.11 0.52** 0.55** 0.45** 0.60** 0.68**
y
*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; P < 0.10.
 Table 2
Hierarchical Regression Models Predicting Readiness-Related Outcomes
Readiness Social skills Cognitive Communication Receptive
(teacher rating) (teacher rating) development skills communication

Connell and Prinz

Steps b R 2ch b R 2ch b R 2ch b R 2ch b R 2ch

(1) Demographic variables 0.143* 0.213** 0.206** 0.152* 0.157*

Child gender (female = 0, male = 1) 0.116 0.250y 0.196 0.094 0.172
Maternal education 0.242y 0.161 0.307* 0.246y 0.098
(2) Childcare exposure 0.030 0.114* 0.102y 0.069 0.109y
Years in childcare 0.186 0.305* 0.102 0.281y 0.330*
Hours/week in childcare
0.028
0.300* 0.286y
0.036 0.031
(3) Parent – child interaction 0.288y 0.070y 0.309* 0.081* 0.219 0.041 0.296* 0.074* 0.449** 0.171**
F(5,41) 2.63* 5.66** 4.38** 3.44* 6.36**
R2 0.243 0.408 0.348 0.295 0.437
Adjusted R 2 0.151 0.336 0.269 0.209 0.368
*
P < 0.05; P < 0.01; yP < 0.10.
**

185
186 Journal of School Psychology

complete the parent– child interaction tasks. To maximize the likelihood

that all accessible means of missingness were involved in the replacement
of missing data, demographic information and survey responses related to
childcare exposure, home environment, parenting behaviors, and all
available outcome measures were entered into the EM algorithm, which
converged rapidly at a solution that was then used for analyses with
complete-data methods.
Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test each of the hypotheses
proposed for this study. Demographic characteristics were entered in step
one of the regression as a covariate. Childcare exposure items were then
entered as a block, followed by entry of parent – child interaction quality in
the final step. This approach allows the researcher to examine the added
predictive value of successive variable blocks after accounting for the
impact of background characteristics known to be associated with behav-
ioral and readiness outcomes. In addition to examining whether each
successive variable block improved prediction of criterion variables, indi-
vidual variables were examined for their independent relationship to
outcome, in accordance with the recommendations of Pedhazur (1982).
Standardized beta weights are taken from the final model following entry
of all variable blocks.

RESULTS
Means, standard deviations, and correlations for predictor and criterion
variables are presented in Table 1. Gender was not significantly correlated
with childcare exposure, although it was correlated with parent – child
interaction quality, social skills ratings, and receptive communication
performance. In each instance the correlation favored girls. Maternal
education level was positively correlated with a number of readiness out-
comes including teacher ratings of readiness and performance on overall
cognitive and communication skills assessments. Earlier involvement in
childcare was positively correlated with both cognitive and communications
skills performance, while amount of weekly attendance in childcare was
positively correlated with cognitive performance. Parent –child interaction
quality was positively associated with all outcomes at significant levels.
Finally, the correlation among outcome variables was in the small to
moderate range, with all outcomes positively correlated. Looking specifi-
cally at the means for the BKS and BDI suggests that teachers rated
children as being more ready than their performance on the BDI indicates.
Teacher ratings of school readiness placed most children out of the range
for readiness concerns, although their standardized scores on the BDI
placed children at the low-end of performance relative to the nationally
representative normative sample.
 Connell and Prinz 187

Results from the series of hierarchical regression runs are presented in

Table 2. The overall regression models for each outcome were significant.
Looking at the adjusted R 2 for each regression model, the variables
accounted for approximately 15% of the variance in teacher ratings of
overall school readiness, 34% of the variance in teacher ratings of social
skills, approximately 27% of the variance in cognitive performance, 21% of
the variance in communication skills performance, and 37% of the
variance in receptive communication skills performance. Specific results
are discussed further below.

Childcare exposure
Degree of exposure to out-of-home childcare settings uniquely contributed
to the prediction of subsequent teacher ratings of social skills (incremental
R 2 = 0.114, P= 0.037) after accounting for demographic characteristics, and
contributed at trend levels toward cognitive and receptive communication
skills performance (incremental R 2 = 0.102, P = 0.056, incremental R 2 = 0.114,
P = 0.055, respectively). Specifically, children who began their involvement
in out-of-home childcare at an earlier age received higher ratings on social
skills and demonstrated higher levels on receptive communication ability
(with a trend-level increase on overall communications skills, although the
variable block did not reach such levels). Level of weekly involvement in
childcare settings had a less consistent effect. Increased involvement per
week had a moderate negative impact on social skills ratings, although it
was associated with enhanced performance on cognitive developmental
tasks at trend levels. Childcare involvement did not uniquely contribute to
teacher ratings of overall school readiness or overall communication skills
performance at the end of kindergarten after taking account of demo-
graphic characteristics despite a small positive correlation between years
enrolled in childcare and both outcomes (r= 0.22 and 0.31, respectively).

Parent– child interaction quality

Parent– child interaction quality was significantly and uniquely associated
with higher ratings of social skills (incremental R 2 = 0.081, P = 0.023), overall
communication skills performance (incremental R 2= 0.074, P = 0.044), and
receptive communication skills performance (incremental R 2 = 0.171,
P = 0.001) after accounting for both demographic characteristics and child-
care involvement, as well as a trend level effect on teacher ratings of over-
all school readiness at the end of kindergarten (incremental R 2= 0.070,
P = 0.055). Parent –child interaction quality had its largest effect on receptive
communication ability (b = 0.45, P= 0.001), with smaller effects on other
outcomes (b ranged from 0.21 to 0.31). Interaction quality did not
188 Journal of School Psychology

contribute uniquely toward the prediction of overall cognitive performance

after other variables were entered into the regression model.

DISCUSSION
This study was conducted to better understand the unique contributions of
childcare involvement and parental behavior on academic readiness for
low-income African American children, using multiple indicators of read-
iness-related outcomes including teacher-ratings of readiness and social
skills development as well as independent assessment of cognitive and
communications skills performance. As hypothesized, children enrolled in
out-of-home childcare for more years prior to kindergarten demonstrated
higher levels of social skills and receptive communication skills perform-
ance, and children who spent more time per week in childcare involvement
demonstrated higher levels of cognitive abilities performance. Unexpect-
edly, however, more time per week in prekindergarten childcare had a
negative effect on social skills ratings by teachers.
The relationship between childcare exposure and social skills develop-
ment suggests the potential occurrence of cooperative suppression effects
between the childcare exposure variables and social skills ratings given that
both variables are positively correlated with each other but have divergent
relationships with subsequent ratings of social skills (Tabachnick & Fidell,
2001). In addition, the inclusion of both childcare variables in the
regression model for social skills results in stronger beta weights than
observed in their bivariate correlations, and the significance of either
exposure variable on social skills development disappears when the other
is not included in the regression model — further supporting the finding of
cooperative suppression. One interpretation of such a pattern is that
neither exposure variable is particularly useful in predicting later social
skills development alone, but that the combination of the two variables is
useful because the presence of both variables removes variance irrelevant
to the prediction of social skills. For example, number of years enrolled in
out-of-home care does not predict social skills unless one also knows the
amount of time a child spends per week in childcare settings, or vice versa.
This interpretation may also explain why the NICHD Early Child Care
Research Network (2000) study discussed earlier failed to observe any
association between amount of childcare exposure and cognitive or lan-
guage outcomes — the study included hours per week as its only measure of
amount of childcare exposure.
A more consistent pattern of positive effects on readiness-related out-
comes emerged between ratings of parent – child interaction quality and
readiness outcomes (with the exception of overall cognitive performance).
Although small, the effects associated with parent– child interaction quality
 Connell and Prinz 189

are consistent with the existing empirical literature on early academic

achievement (e.g., Estrada et al., 1987; Pianta et al., 1997, 1991), and
provide support for the role such interactions play in low-income house-
holds even after addressing the influence of childcare exposure. The
present study also improves on previous research (e.g., Portes, 1991) that
minimizes the effects of parenting interactions for low-income families
through the use of an ecologically valid approach to assessment of
parent– child interactions (i.e., home- or school-based observations and
the addition of an academic problem-solving activity) that may account for
the stronger effects for parent– child interaction than previously observed in
low-income households.
A series of post hoc analyses were conducted given the racial and socio-
economic make-up of the present sample. One area of debate within the
parenting literature relevant to the present study is the question of the types
of interactions that are most beneficial to low-income African American
children’s cognitive and behavioral development. Specifically, researchers
have focused attention on two dimensions of parenting described as
‘‘warmth’’ and ‘‘demandingness’’ (Baumrind, 1972; Maccoby & Martin,
1983). Research has generally supported the finding that parent –child
interactions characterized as warm, structured, and emotionally responsive
are related to positive cognitive and behavioral gains in children, regardless
of racial/ethnic group or social class (McCabe, Clark, & Barnett, 1999;
Rohner, 1986), a finding consonant with the parent – child interaction
literature. Findings related to the role of control and demandingness are
less clear. One line of research suggests that, regardless of racial or ethnic
background, a parent’s ability to structure their child’s activity without over-
or undercontrol or coercive discipline practices is associated with fewer
discipline problems and early academic gains (Brody & Flor, 1998; Kilgore,
Snyder, & Lentz, 2000; Rowe, Vazsonyi, & Flannery, 1995) while use of
coercive discipline strategies such as corporal punishment may have neg-
ative consequences (McCabe et al., 1999). Another line of research suggests
that parenting influences are unique to racial and socioeconomic groups,
and that parental control of an authoritarian nature is associated with
positive developmental outcomes for low-income African American youth
(Baldwin, Baldwin, & Cole, 1990; Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Steinberg, 1996).
Post hoc regression models were conducted for each readiness outcome
substituting the ratings of control problems from the parent –child inter-
action videos for the overall interaction quality variable. The nature of the
coding scheme used requires that the analyses focus on the degree to which
control problems are associated with readiness outcomes, because the
coding system does not differentiate between types of control problems
(i.e., both over- and undercontrol) that emerge. As a result, this post hoc
analyses does not specifically address the degree to which authoritarian
parenting is protective for low-income African American children. In
190 Journal of School Psychology

general, despite the relatively strong correlation between ratings of control

and the overall parent – child interaction rating (r = 0.67), the results
suggest that control problems, in and of themselves, were not significantly
related to readiness outcomes after accounting for the effects of demo-
graphic characteristics and childcare involvement. The exception was in
the area of receptive communication skills performance where higher
levels of problematic control were associated with significant decreases in
receptive communication performance.
Despite the encouraging findings of this study, a number of limitations
should be noted. One limitation to the present study is the small sample size,
which may have limited the statistical power to detect smaller effects from
the childcare exposure variables. A larger sample might have resulted in
significant findings related to the impact of childcare exposure with respect
to cognitive development and communication skills — findings that were
only supported at the trend level in the present analyses. Given the size of
the regression coefficients for individual childcare exposure variables in
each of these instances (i.e., b between 0.28 and 0.33) one would anticipate
these findings to reach significance in a study with greater power.
The assessment of childcare exposure retrospectively from parent report
also limits the current findings. Given that much of the research on
childcare exposure follows children in different settings prospectively to
look for differences in adjustment or academic outcomes, the present
approach may have minimized findings. The use of childcare records and
independent ratings of setting quality would strengthen assessment of
exposure to childcare settings. Finally, the use of Caucasian coders for
parent – child interactions with an African American sample may have
influenced ratings of interaction or affected reliability estimates on some
of the dimensions (e.g., parental control). Future research needs to address
the influence of coder characteristics, particularly racial/ethnic differences
and SES, on parent –child interaction ratings to better understand the
strengths and limitations of same-race or different-race coders when
looking at the relationship between interactions and child outcomes.
Despite potential limitations of this study, the findings have a number of
implications for the development of preventive interventions for low-
income and minority populations and for the role of school psychologists
in promoting academic readiness among primary school children who may
be at-risk for school-related difficulties. Family and childcare settings each
play a unique and important role in the development of a range of
readiness-related outcomes, and prevention efforts are likely to be most
effective when addressing these settings jointly rather than in isolation.
Given research that suggests that changes in parental interaction styles
during preschool years are strong predictors of later readiness (e.g., Parker,
Boak, Griffin, Ripple, & Peay, 1999) programs that address parenting and
family involvement practices for youth enrolled in childcare may be
 Connell and Prinz 191

particularly effective at promoting early readiness skills development.

Parenting workshops (e.g., parent training) have been shown to be a very
effective strategy for promoting positive behavior in youth at-risk for
behavior problems; such programs might address not only behavioral
strategies but relational aspects of parenting and the importance of parental
engagement in school settings as a strategy for promoting academic and
social skills development among youth at-risk for early academic difficulties.
School psychologists can play a number of important roles in the
promotion of school readiness among youth at-risk for early academic
difficulties. The need for a ‘‘paradigm shift’’ in the field of school readiness
has been recognized by a number of authors (e.g., Carlton & Winsler, 1999;
Gredler, 2000), and school psychologists can play a critical role in effecting
such a shift among primary school teachers and administrators. A number
of potential roles are suggested by the present study, including: (1)
development of family-centered programs to promote skill development
in youth at-risk for academic difficulties upon school entry, (2) outreach
and consultation with early childhood programs to provide a smooth
transition for youth in need of skills development and to promote parent
engagement in the childcare and school system, (3) training and consulta-
tion with primary school teachers and administrators around issues of
school readiness promotion and early identification of at-risk youth, and
(4) increased recognition of the important role of parental engagement
(both in home and school settings) as a means of promoting academic and
social skills development.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper is based on research conducted toward completion of the

first author’s dissertation in the Department of Psychology, University of
South Carolina. The authors gratefully acknowledge comments on a draft
of this manuscript from Emilie P. Smith, Laurie A. Ford, and Kevin J. Swick,
and to colleagues of the Yale Division of Prevention and Community
Research for helpful comments during revisions.

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