Parenting Gains in Head Start as a Function of Initial Parenting Skill

• Author: Elizabeth T. Gershoff,Arya Ansari,Kelly M. Purtell
• Date: 01 October 2016
• Published date: 01 October 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12296

A A University of Texas at Austin

K M. P The Ohio State University∗

E T. G University of Texas at Austin∗∗

Parenting Gains in Head Start as a Function of Initial

Parenting Skill

Using data from the Head Start Impact Study

(n=3,696), this article examines whether one

year of Head Start differentially beneted

parents as a function of their initial parent-

ing behaviors. Four outcomes are examined,

namely, parents’ rates of engaging in cognitive

stimulation, reading to their child, and spank-

ing, as well as their depressive symptoms. In

general, most parents demonstrated improve-

ments in their reading practices and cognitive

stimulation regardless of their parenting behav-

iors at baseline. However, depressive symptoms

and spanking behavior showed improvements

only among parents who began the Head Start

program with the most depressive symptoms

and the most frequent spanking, respectively.

These ndings suggest that treatment-induced

changes in parenting can vary by parents’

incoming attributes and that heterogeneity of

Department of Human Development and Family Sciences,

University of Texasat Austin, 1 University Station A2702,

Austin, TX 78712 (aansari@utexas.edu).

∗Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State

University,130C Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Ave.,

Columbus, OH 43210.

∗∗Department of Human Development and Family

Sciences, University of Texasat Austin, 1 University

Station A2702, Austin, TX 78712.

This article was edited by Linda Waite.

KeyWords:Head Start Impact Study, heterogeneity of effects,

parenting.

effects should be considered. Implications for

Head Start and other parenting interventions

are discussed.

The early childhood years serve as a critical

developmental period in children’s educational

careers (Heckman, 2008). Recent estimates,

however, suggest that children from disadvan-

taged backgrounds enter kindergarten up to 22

months behind their more advantaged peers in

areas of early academic skills (Bradbury, Corak,

Waldfogel, & Washbrook, 2011), and once chil-

dren fall behind, they often stay behind (Alexan-

der & Entwisle, 1989). Given the income-related

disparities in school readiness, early childhood

programs are increasingly viewed as a key point

of intervention. Although there is compelling

evidence to suggest that these programs can

facilitate young children’s school prospects

(Gormley, Phillips, & Dawson, 2005; Weiland

& Yoshikawa, 2013), they target only one of

the contexts affected by poverty. Parents remain

the most important contributors to children’s

school success (Belsky et al., 2007), and the

intergenerational transmission of inequality is

often ltered through intrafamilial dynamics

(Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010; Gershoff,

Aber, Raver, & Lennon, 2007; Kalil, 2015).

Although all parents want their children to

succeed academically, parents of greater means

are more likely to know how to promote chil-

dren’s school success than are those of lower

Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (October 2016): 1195–1207 1195

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12296