title: Changes in parents' spanking and reading as mechanisms for Head Start impacts on children.
abstract: This study examined whether Head Start, the nation's main two-generation program for low-income families, benefits children in part through positive changes in parents' use of spanking and reading to children. Data were drawn from the 3-year-old cohort of the national evaluation of the Head Start program known as the Head Start Impact Study (N = 2,063). Results indicated that Head Start had small, indirect effects on children's spelling ability at Age 4 and their aggression at Age 4 through an increase in parents' reading to their children. Taken together, the results suggest that parents play a role in sustaining positive benefits of the Head Start program for children's behavior and literacy skills, one that could be enhanced with a greater emphasis on parent involvement and education. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: Elizabeth T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Gershoff
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: Arya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences.
authors.forename: Kelly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Purtell
authors.affiliation: Child and Family Research Partnership.
authors.forename: Holly R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Sexton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D011932:Reading; D014481:United States