The contribution of parent and peer support to head start children's early school adjustment

Early Childhood

Research Quarterly,

9, 387-405

(1994)

The Contribution of Parent and Peer Support to Head Start Children’s Early School Adjustment Angela R. Taylor University

of Arizona

Sandra Machida California

State University,

Chico

The research involved a prospective longitudinal study of the relationship of parent and peer support to gains over the school year in Head Start children’s cognitive and social competence. Sixty three children enrolled in Head Start centers in a rural county in northern California participated in the study during the fall and spring of the school year. Parental involvement in school was predictive of gains in learning skilis and classroom behavior, whereas mutual friendship predicted gains in social play and cooperative pretend play. Initial peer play skills were also predictive of later mutual friendship and peer preference, suggesting bi-directional influence between peer competence and peer social support.

Although there is disagreement about the long-term effects of Head Start (Haskins, 1989; Woodhead, 1988), the immediate and short-term benefits of the program have been well established in the literature. Numerous research studies show that Head Start participants make immediate gains on both cognitive and social-emotional measures that are sustained at least over the first year or two of elementary school (McKey et al., 1985). Yet, This research was supported in part by faculty grants to Angela Taylor from the Graduate School at California State University, Chico and the College of Agriculture at University of Arizona. Our sincere appreciation is extended to the administrators, teachers, parents, and children of Community Action Agency of Butte County, Head Start for their participation in the study. Special thanks go to Rick Peryam, Cheryl Giscombe, and Deanna Mangionello, for their invaluable assistance in facilitating the data collection process at the Head Start centers. We are grateful to Jan Harris and Karen Fleming for their assistance with data collection, and to Suzzane Callor and Julie Torquati for their help with data entry and analysis. This article also benefited from the helpful comments of two anonymous reviewers. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Angela Taylor, Division of Family Studies, University of Arizona, 210 FCR Building, Tuscan, AZ 85721. 387

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surprisingly little evidence exists on the particular factors that contribute to positive outcomes within Head Start. This study was designed to fill this gap by examining individual and environmental factors associated with Head Start children’s cognitive and social outcomes in preschool. Research on the predictors of outcomes in Head Start is needed to enhance the understanding of factors that influence low-income and at-risk children’s preschool adjustment and learning. Furthermore, because the child’s adjustment in preschool may set the stage for later school experiences, such evidence can have important implications for research on the determinants of long-term outcomes of early intervention. Of particular interest in the present research was the supportive role played by parents and peers in the young child’s early school adjustment. Effects of the child’s personal attributes (sex and temperament) were also taken into account in examining the influence of these social support variables. Literature relating these factors to children’s early school adjustment is reviewed later.

Child Attributes

The young child’s preschool experience partly depends on the personal attributes the child brings to the new learning situation. Two potentially important attributes are the child’s sex and temperamental disposition. Because girls mature more rapidly than boys, they are likely to adapt more readily to the demands of early schooling. Reviews of the sex-difference literature conclude that girls, compared to boys, display more advanced verbal skills and fewer behavioral problems in the early grades of school (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974). Recent studies, likewise, report sex differences favoring girls with respect to academic achievement and teacher-rated behavioral adjustment in kindergarten and first grade (Cryan, Sheehan, Wiechel, & BandyHedden, 1992; Reynolds, 1989). Although this pattern of sex differences tends to be rather consistent across studies, sex often accounts for only a small amount of variance in school performance. Temperamental characteristics have also been shown to be related to children’s early school adjustment. For example, high adaptability and persistence and low activity and distractibility were found to be associated with higher achievement and better behavioral adjustment of kindergarten and first-grade children (Carey, Fox, & McDevitt, 1977; Martin, Nagle, 8z Paget, 1983). Likewise, in a recent study of preschoolers, Jewsuwan, Luster, and Kostelnik (1993) found that highly sociable children tended to have more positive teacher-rated adjustment, whereas children high on emotionality and activity demonstrated more behavior problems and were less well adjusted. It has been argued, however, that the degree to which the child’s temperament influences adjustment, will depend upon the demands (and supports) present in the child’s environment (Thomas & Chess, 1977).

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Parental Support Supportive personal relationships, particularly with parents and other family members, can help to facilitate the child’s efforts to adapt to the school environment. Recently, Dubow, Tisak, Causey, Hryshko, and Reid (1991) conducted a prospective, longitudinal study of the effects of perceived social support on the academic and behavioral adjustment of third- through fifth-grade children. Perceived support is considered to reflect the degree to which an individual feels valued and accepted by members of his or her social network (Barrera, 1986). Dubow et al. found that perceived family support predicted children’s teacher-rated competencies two years later and that gains over time in family support were predictive of improved behavioral adjustment in school. School adjustment is also thought to be facilitated by the parents’ direct involvment in the child’s schooling and educational activities. Historically, parental involvement has been a central component of the Head Start program and is considered to play a significant role in the program’s success. Yet, there is surprisingly little empirical research on the effect of parent involvement on children’s outcomes in Head Start. For example, only 5 of the 76 studies included in the Head Start Synthesis Project meta-analysis addressed the effects of parent involvement. Results of these studies showed a positive relationship between parent involvement in Head Start and children’s cognitive test performance. These findings are supported by Reynold’s (1989, 1991) more recent longitudinal research on predictors of early school outcomes of low-income, minority children enrolled in government funded kindergarten programs. Reynolds found that teacher-rated parent involvement in school had direct positive effects on the children’s first-grade reading and math achievement scores and on teacher ratings of social-emotional maturity. Nevertheless, the claims for benefits of parent involvement in early intervention programs have recently been called into question (White, Taylor, & Moss, 1992). Given current recommendations for increased parent involvement in Head Start (Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, 1993; Lombardi, 1990), further evidence regarding the effects of such involvement is clearly needed. Peer Support The role of peer relations in children’s social adjustment has only recently gained attention in the research literature. However, peer support, like parent support, can have a significant impact on children’s responses to schooling. For example, in their two-year longitudinal study of elementaryschool children, Dubow et al. (1991) found that gains over time in peer support were more consistently related to improvements in school adjustment than either parent or teacher support. These findings were attributed to the increasing influence of peers during the late childhood and early adolescent years (Dubow et al., 1991).

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Emerging evidence shows that peer relations also serve important functions in the preschool period, particularly with respect to the development of social competence. For example, Howes (1988) found that preschoolers with mutual friends were more competent in their social play with peers and more successful in their attempts to enter peer play groups than children who lacked such relationships. In addition, Ladd and Price (1987) found that peer relationships helped to facilitate young children’s kindergarten adjustment and seemed to reduce the stress of the preschool-to-kindergarten transition. Children who had a larger number of familiar peers in their new classroom expressed more positive attitudes toward kindergarten as well as lower levels of school anxiety. In a subsequent study, Ladd (1990) found that children with more close friendships in the classroom had more positive school perceptions at the beginning of kindergarten, and that maintaining friendships was associated with improved school perceptions over the course of the year. In addition, peer social preference was predictive of improved school perceptions, lower levels of school anxiety, and higher levels of school performance. To date there have been no studies examining the influence of peer relationships on children’s outcomes in Head Start. Such relationships may be of particular significance in accounting for positive effects of Head Start on children’s personal and social competence. Direction of Effects

Although early social support is expected to be predictive of subsequent school adjustment, it is also possible that the child’s initial adjustment contributes to enhanced social support from parents and peers. For example, parents whose children show a positive initial adjustment to preschool may be more inclined to become involved in their child’s educational activities. Similarly, evidence suggests that preschoolers’ early social and play skills contribute to the development of positive relationships with peers (Ladd, Price, & Hart, 1988). In this study, measures of both social support and school adjustment were obtained at the beginning and end of the school year in order to examine possible reciprocal patterns of influence. The present research involved a short-term, prospective study of the contribution of child attributes, parental support, and peer support to children’s adjustment in Head Start. The following specific research questions were examined: 1.

2.

Are the child’s personal attributes at the beginning of preschool (i.e., sex and temperament) predictive of school adjustment at the end of the year? Is initial social support from parents (i.e., parent involvement in school, peceived parent acceptance) and peers (i.e., mutual friendship,

Parent and Peer Support

3. 4.

391

peer social preference) predictive of the child’s end-of-year school adjustment? Do the relationships of parent and peer support to school adjustment vary according to the child’s sex? Is initial school adjustment predictive of subsequent social support?

In this study, school adjustment was operationalized in terms of cognitive and social competencies considered to reflect positive adaptation to preschool. Outcome measures included a standardized assessment of children’s learning skills, teacher ratings of classroom behavior, child selfreports of perceived competence, and observations of children’s peer play skills. METHOD Subjects Seventy-nine Head Start children (38 females, 41 males) participated in the study during the fall of 1991 (Time 1). The children were drawn from eight classrooms of five Head Start centers in a rural county in northern California. The sample was predominantly white, non-Hispanic, and children ranged in age from 46 to 61 months with a mean age of 53 months. Additional demographic information on the initial sample of children is presented in Table 1. Due to normal attrition in the Head Start program, 63 children (30 females, 33 males), representing 80% of the fall sample, remained available for a second wave of assessment in the Spring of 1992 (Time 2).’ With respect to effects of subject attribution, the children who participated only at Time 1 came from smaller families, t(72) = 2.34, p< .05, and were significantly lower in peer social preference, t(77)=3.25, pc .Ol, as compared to the children who participated at both times of assessment. There were no other significant difference between the two samples with respect to demographic characteristics or the Time 1 criterion and predictor variables. MEASURES Predictor Variables Child Temperament. Child temperament was assessed using the teacher form of the Temperament Assessment Battery for Children (TABC; Martin, I In order to obtain the final sample of 63 subjects, sample means were substituted for missing values on the predictor and criterion variables. The proportion of children for whom missing data was imputed was small, ranging from 2% to 6% across the individual variables. Preliminary multiple regression analyses showed no significant effects of a missing-data dummy variable on Time 2 school adjustment. Since the results were essentially unaffected by the missing-data variable, it was omitted in the final regression analyses.

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Table

1.

Demographic

Variable

Characteristics

of Sample

N

70

41 38

52 48

52 8 5 5 2 7

66 10 6 6 3 9

44 27 5 3

56 34 6 4

34 33 I 5

43 42 9 6

4 10 47 10 1 I

5 13 59 13 1 9

5 12 32 16 1 13

6 15 41 20 1 17

Gender

Male Female Race

White, Non-Hispanic African American Hispanic Asian Native American Other Family Type

Two-parent Single-parent Foster family Unknown Number of Children l-2 3-4 5 or more

Unknown Maternal Education < 9th grade

9th-1 lth grade High SchooVGED Some College College graduate Unknown Paternal Education < 9th grade

9th-1 lth grade High SchooVGED Some College College graduate Unknown Child’s Age (in months)

M=53.11

SD=3.61

1988). The TABC is a 4%item rating scale designed to assess 6 dimensions of temperament in children ages 3-7 years. Teachers rate the extent to which the child demonstrates each behavioral characteristic on a 7-point scale, from hardly ever (1) to almost always (7). For purposes of data reduction, the six temperament subscales were submitted to a principal components factor analysis which yielded a two-factor solution. The distractibility, activ-

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ity, emotionality, and persistence (negative loading) scales loaded together on the first factor and accounted for 50% of the variance. The adaptability and approach/withdrawal scales loaded together on the second factor and accounted for an additional 36% of the variance. Based on the factor analysis results, a composite “distractibility” score was computed by summing the scores for the distractibility and activity subscales. (Persistence and emotional intensity scales were omitted due to high cross-loadings with the second factor.) A composite “adaptability” score was computed by summing the scores for the adaptability and approach/ withdrawal subscales. Alpha coefficients were ‘91 for the distractibility composite and .79 for the adaptability composite. Parent Involvement in School. Teachers rated five questionnaire items pertaining to parent participation in the child’s educational activities: volunteers in the classroom, responds to requests for information about the child, works when scheduled to volunteer in the classroom, attends parent meetings, and follows through with activities suggested by the teacher. The items were rated on a 5-point scale from consistently (5) to never (I), and an average rating was computed for each subject. The alpha coefficient for the parent involvement scale was 85. The maternal acceptance subscale of Perceived Parental Acceptance. the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (Harter & Pike, 1984) was used to assess children’s perceptions of parental acceptance and support. The measure consists of six items (mom smiles, mom takes you places, mom cooks favorite foods, mom reads to you, mom plays with you, mom talks to you), each rated on a 4-point scale. The score was the average rating for the six items. Coefficient alpha for the scale was .71. Mutual Friendship. An unlimited-choice positive nomination sociometric procedure and a teacher nomination measure were used to assess children’s classroom friendships. Following procedures of Asher, Singleton, Tinsley, and Hymel(1979), children were first shown photographs of their classmates and asked to name each peer. Children were then asked to point to the pictures of their best friends. Teachers were also asked to identify each child’s best friends by circling their names on a class roster. Children’s mutual friendships were identified on the following bases: a) the subject named the peer as a best friend and the peer also named the subject as a best friend; or b) the subject named the peer as a best friend and the classroom teacher named the same peer as the child’s best friend. A child’s score consisted of the proportion of classmates with whom the child had mutual friendships.

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Peer Social Preference. Limited-choice positive and negative sociometric nomination measures were used to obtain an index of each child’s social preference within the classroom peer group. Using the same array of classmates’ photographs, each child was asked to point to the pictures of three classmates “you like to play with” and three classmates “you don’t like to play with.” Scores for the number of “like” and “dislike” nominations received by each child were computed. Following procedures of Coie, Dodge, and Coppotelli (1982), a social preference score was calculated as the standardized (within classroom) “like” score minus the standardized “dislike” score. Criterion Variables Learning Skills. Children’s classroom learning skills were assessed using the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning-Revised (DIAL-R; Mardell-Czudnowski & Goldberg, 1990). The DIAL-R is a developmental screening instrument designed to assess motor, conceptual, and language skills of children ages 2-6. The instrument has been found to have good test-retest reliability and internal consistency, and there is evidence for both predictive and concurrent validilty. The total scale standard score was employed for purposes of the present research. Classroom Behavior. Children’s classroom behaviors were assessed using the Teachable Pupil Survey (Kornblau, 1982). The Teachable Pupil Survey is a 33-item questionnaire on which teachers rate the extent to which children display behaviors characteristic of the “ideal” pupil. Ratings are made on a 6-point scale from not at all characteristic (1) to almost always characteristic (6). The items reflect three major dimensions of pupil attributes: cognitive-motivational behavior (e.g., curious, inquisitive, questioning) school-appropriate behavior (e.g., alert, attentive to classroom proceedings), and personal-social behavior (e.g., socially well adjusted). The alpha coefficient for the total scale was .94. The average rating for the total set of items was computed for each subject. Perceived Competence. Items from the cognitive and physical competence subscales of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (Harter & Pike, 1984) were used to assess children’s perceptions of their own competencies. The alpha coefficient for the 1Zitem scale was .72. Scores consisted of the average rating for the 12 items. Peer Play Skills. Children’s peer play skills were assessed using an observation system based on the Howes Peer Play Scale (1980) and Howes, Unger, & Seidner’s (1989) Social Pretend Play Scale. Children’s play behaviors were coded into one of ten hierarchically organized categories: unoccupied, solitary, proximity, onlooker, parallel play, parallel-aware play,

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395

simple-social play, complementary and reciprocal play, cooperative-social pretend play, and complex-social pretend play. For purposes of data reduction, two composite scores were computed. The social play composite consisted of the proportion of the observation intervals in which the child was involved in at least parallel play with peers. This score was intended to reflect the extent of each child’s social participation with peers. Children low in social participation (i.e., socially withdrawn children) tend to be less socially skillful and less mature than socially active children (Rubin, 1982; Howes, 1988). The cooperative-pretend play composite was the proportion of social play involving cooperative-pretend play or complex-pretend play. In the Howes observation system, these two categories of social-pretend play are considered to be the most developmentally advanced and complex play forms because they involve enactment of “non-literal role exchanges” and use of metacommunication about play (Howes & Matheson, 1992).

PROCEDURE

The child measures were administered in 20-min individual interviews conducted by trained and experienced adult female examiners. Time 1 interviews were conducted during the Fall (October-November) and Time 2 interviews were conducted during the Spring (April-May) of the school year. Teachers completed the Teachable Pupil Survey in the Fall and Spring, and the TABC was completed once in the Fall. Teachers completed the rating of parental school involvement at mid-year (January) and again at the end of the school year. The DIAL-R was administered as part of the regular developmental screening completed by the Head Start program at the beginning and end of the school year. The peer-play observations were conducted during Fall and Spring by three trained adult female observers. Observations were recorded in 20-s continuous intervals for four, 5-min periods per child (total of 20 min per child). In each 20-s interval, the child’s highest level of play was coded. At each time of assessment, each child was observed on at least two different days and during both indoor and outdoor play periods. Prior to beginning their observations, observers spent time in the Head Start classrooms to familiarize themselves with the target children, and completed practice observations both “live” and from videotape. Observers were required to achieve at least 80% agreement on the observation codes during practice sessions. Approximately 15% of the observations at each time of assessment were double-coded with a reliability judge. Interobserver reliabilities (Cohen’s kappa) for social play were .79 at Time 1 and .76 at Time 2. Cohen’s kappas for cooperative-pretend play were .70 at Time 1 and .59 at Time 2.

396

Table 2.

Taylor and Machida

Means and Standard Deviations

for Predictor and Criterion Variables Time 1

Variable

Time 2

M

SD

M

SD

4.43 4.27

.91 1.18

-

-

3.46 3.30 .17 .32

.85 .47 .15 .97

3.55 3.27 .lO .07

.82 .53 .09 1.06

93.95 4.55 3.36 .73 .05

12.44 .68 .44 .17 .09

99.72 4.48 3.39 .80 .lO

13.47 .68 .44 .16 .14

Predictors: Temperament: a Adaptability Distractibility Social Support: Parent Involvment Parent Acceptance Mutual Friendship Peer Preference Criteria: School Adjustment: Learning Skills Classroom Behavior Perceived Competence Social Play Cooperative Pretend Play

Note. n = 63. a Temperament was measured at Time 1 only. For ease of interpretation, sum scores were converted to mean ratings.

the temperament

RESULTS Descriptive Statistics Table 2 shows the means and standard deviations for the temperament, social support, and school-adjustment variables at each time of assessment. Results from paired I tests revealed a significant decrease in mutual friendships, t(62) = 3.04, p< .Ol, from Time 1 to Time 2, a pattern which probably reflects the high rate of turnover among children enrolled in this particular Head Start program.2 With respect to school adjustment, children showed significant gains in learning skills as assessed on the DIAL-R, t(62) = 4.86, p< .OOl, as well as significant increases in their proportion of social play, t(62) = 2.73, p < .Ol , and cooperative-pretend play, t(62) = 2.3 1, p < .05. Stability of Measures The stability of the predictor and criterion measures was examined by correlating the scores obtained at each time of assessment. Results showed a high z Data obtained from Head Start records showed a turnover rate of 40% across all classrooms during the year in which the present study was conducted. This turnover was due primarily to moves and lack of available transportation to and from the Head Start centers.

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Parent and Peer Support

Table 3.

Correlations Between Time 1 Predictors and Time 2 Criteria Time 2 Criteria

Time 1 Predictors Sexa

Learning SkillS

Classroom Behavior

Perceived Competence

.14

.22 +

.14

.35** - .03

.49*** - .21*

- .03 -.19

.29* .18 .28* .36**

-.08 .I8 .05 .28*

Social Play

Cooperative Pretend Play

.06

.ll

.24+ -.15

.15 - .05

Temperament: Adaptability Distractibility Social Support: Parent Involvement Parent Acceptance Mutual Friendship Peer Preference

.41** .I1 .Ol .28*

a Sex was coded 0 = male, 1 = female. + p< .Ol. * p< .05. **p<.o1.

.OO .25 + .35** .21*

.06 .03 &I** .13

*** p< .OOl.

degree of stability for the DIAL-R total score (r = .74) and the teacher rating of classroom behavior (r = .78), and moderate stability for the teacher rating of parent involvement in school (r= .38) and the child report of perceived competence (r = .34). Relatively low levels of stability were obtained for the remaining measures (r= .22 for parent acceptance; r= .07 for mutual friendship; r = .21 for peer preference; r = .16 for social play; r = .06 for cooperative-pretend play). Prediction of School Adjustment from Child Attributes and Social Support Correlational and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the prospective relationships between the Time 1 child attribute and social-support variables and the Time 2 school-adjustment measures. In the regression analyses, predictive relationships were examined, controlling for Time 1 adjustment and the other Time 1 predictors. These analyses provided data on the relative contribution of the predictors to gains over time in children’s school adjustment. Correlational Analyses Table 3 shows the zero-order correlations between sex, temperament and the social support variables assessed at Time 1 and the five Time 2 schooladjustment criteria. As can be seen, sex had a low, marginally significant positive correlation with Time 2 teacher-rated classroom behavior, indicating that girls showed better behavioral adjustment than boys at the end of the school year. Initial adaptable temperament was associated with higher

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Taylor and Machida

end-of-year learning skills and ratings of classroom behavior as well as greater involvement in social play. With respect to the social-support variables, children whose parents were more involved in school at Time 1 were higher in learning skills and classroom behavior at Time 2. In addition, children who developed more mutual friendships at the beginning of the school year showed better classroom behavior, and greater involvement in social play and cooperative-pretend play at the end of the year. Finally, Time 1 peer preference was predictive of more positive outcomes on all of the Time 2 school-adjustment criteria with the exception of cooperativepretend play. Hierarchical Regression Analyses

Preliminary analyses indicated that neither sex nor the temperament variables accounted for significant variance in the Time 2 criterion measures once the Time 1 criterion scores were taken into account. In order to reduce the number of predictors, the temperament variables were excluded from the subsequent analyses. The sex variable was retained, however, in order to control for its effects when examining sex-by-predictor interactions. In each regression analysis, sex and the Time 1 criterion were entered together at the first step to control for their effects in examining the contribution of the social-support predictors. The social-support variables were then entered together at step 2. For those predictors showing significant effects, the corresponding sex-by-predictor interaction term was entered at the third step to determine whether the effect varied by gender. Table 4 shows that at step 1, the strongest predictor of Time 2 learning skills, classroom behavior, and perceived competence was the Time 1 criterion variable. Sex and the Time 1 criterion together accounted for 56% of the variance in learning skills, 62% of the variance in classroom behavior, and 13% of the variance in perceived competence. At step 2, the set of Time 1 social support variables accounted for an additional 3% of the variance in learning skills, 5% of the variance in classroom behavior, and 6% of the variance in perceived competence. Although the set of social support variables failed to account for a significant amount of variance after controlling for the background variables, Time 1 parent involvement in school did make a significant unique contribution to the prediction of Time 2 classroom behavior and had a marginally significant effect on Time 2 learning skills. With respect to Time 2 peer play, Table 4 shows that neither sex nor the Time 1 criterion had a significant effect, and the background variables together accounted for only 3% of the variance in social play and 1% of the variance in cooperative-pretend play. At step 2, the set of social-support predictors accounted for an additional 19% of the variance in Time 2 social play and cooperative-pretend play. Specifically, Time 1 mutual friendship

399

Parent and Peer Support

Table 4. Prediction of Time 2 School Adjustment and Social Support Variables

from Time 1 Background

Time 2 Criteria Social

Cooperative

Skills

Behavior

Competence

Play

Pretend Play

-.12 .78*** (.56***)

.09 .77*** (.62***)

.12 .33** (.13*)

.03 .16

.I1 .05

(.03)

(.Ol)

.16+ - .02 - .03 .09

.21* - .03 - .Ol .07

- .14 .05 - .02 .20

(.03)

(.05)

(.06)

.02 .2l + .30* .20 (.191)

.09 - .Ol .43** .05 (.19*)

Learning Classroom Time 1 Predictors Step 1: Background

Perceived

Variables

Sexa Time I Criterion RZ Change Step 2: Social Support Parent Involvement Parent Acceptance Mutual Friendship Peer Preference R2 Change

Note. Standardized beta weights are shown. a Sex was coded 0 = male, 1 = female. ***<<.001. *p<.o5. ** p<.Ol. + p< .Ol.

was predictive of gains in both social play and cooperative-pretend play. However, the effect of mutual friendship on cooperative-pretend play was qualified by a significant sex by predictor interaction, 0 = .66, p< .05, indicating that mutual friendship predicted gains in cooperative pretend play for girls but not boys. Finally, perceived parental acceptance made a marginally significant unique contribution to the prediction of peer play. A higher level of perceived parental acceptance was predictive of increased involvement in social play. Prediction of Social Support from School Adjustment A second series of hierarchical regression analyses was conducted in order to examine the effects of initial school adjustment on later social support. Following procedures of Dubow et al. (1991), these analyses paralleled the previous analyses used to assess effects of social support on child competence. In each analysis, sex and the Time 1 social support criterion (e.g., parent involvement in school) were entered together on the first step, followed by a predictor set consisting of one of the five Time 1 adjustment variables (e.g., teacher-rated classroom behavior) and the remaining three Time 1 social-support variables. Results showed no significant effects of Time 1 adjustment on Time 2 parent involvement in school or parental acceptance, after controlling for sex and the corresponding Time 1 social support criterion. However, Time 1 adjustment did make a significant contribution to the prediction of Time 2 mutual friendship and peer preference. As shown in Table 5, higher initial

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400 Table 5.

Prediction of Time 2 Peer

Support from Time 1 School Adjustment Time 2 Criteria

Time 1 Predictors Learning skills Classroom behavior Perceived Competence Social Play Cooperative Pretend Play

Mutual F~endship

Peer Preference

.32* -.26+ .03 .18 .47***

.I2 .I6 .19 .32* .34**

Nofe. Tabled results show standardized beta weights for each Time I school adjustment predictor after controlling for sex, the Time 1 criterion, and the three remaining Time 1 social support variables. * p< .05. **p< .Ol. *** p< .ool. + p< .lO.

learning skilis and invoivem~nt in cooperative-pretend play were predictive of increases in mutual friendship at Time 2. In addition, both Time 1 social play and cooperatiave-pretend play were predictive of higher Time 2 peer preference.

There is general agreement that participation in Head Start has positive effects on the early school performance of low-income children. However, little is known about the factors that influence children’s adjustment and progress in Head Start. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of child attributes, parental support, and peer support to Head Start children’s cognitive and social outcomes in preschool. Child Attributes With respect to the role of child attributes, correlational results paralleled prior findings (e.g., Jewsuwan et al., 1993; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974) in showing that sex (i.e., being female) and adaptable temper~ent were positivety associated with end-of-year school adjustment. However, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that neither sex nor the child’s initial temperament contributed to the prediction of later adjustment, after controlling for the child’s prior adjustment. This finding is consistent with recent research by Ciullo and Burton (1992) who found that sex had no effect on kindergarten readiness, after initial cognitive status was taken into account. Similarly, it has been argued in the temperament literature that simple correlational data can be misleading to the extent that they reflect confounding between measures of temperament and adjustment (Sanson, Prior, & Kyrios, 1990).

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Support

401

Our failure to find significant effects of teacher-rated temperament, once the influence of prior teacher-rated adjustment was taken into account is consistent with such an argument. Parental Support In contrast to the child attribute findings, parental involvement in school was found to make a modest but significant unique contribution to the prediction of later school adjustment, although it accounted for only a small amount of the variance. After controlling for child sex and prior adjustment, higher parental school involvement was associated with improved classroom behavior and, to a lesser degree, with higher learning skills at the end of the school year. These findings lend support to the small body of existing research showing that parent participation in Head Start has positive effects on children’s school performance (McKey et al., 1985). They also replicate Reynolds’ (1989, 1991) findings that teacher-rated parental involvement in school is predictive of early academic achievement and social maturity of low-income, at-risk children. Although the parent involvement findings are suggestive, they must be interpreted in light of the measurement procedures used in the present research. Since the measures of parent involvement, learning skills, and classroom behavior were all based on teacher assessments, these findings might be partly accounted for by shared method variance. Still, the present findings are consistent with other research in which parental involvement measures were obtained from multiple sources. Modest, but significant correspondence has been found between teacher and parent ratings of parent school involvement (Reynolds, 1992; Taylor & Machida, 1994). In addition, Reynolds (1992) found that both teacher and parent-rated school involvement were predictive of subsequent academic achievement, although the teacher ratings produced somewhat stronger results. It is also noteworthy that in the present study, teacher-rated parent involvement made an independent contribution to the prediction of subsequent academic and behavioral adjustment, after controlling for the teacher’s prior ratings of the child’s adjustment. Furthermore, initial teacher-rated adjustment was unrelated to subsequent teacher-rated parental involvement in school. This suggests that our findings regarding parent school involvement and child adjustment do not simply reflect measurement overlap. Peer Support The present research extends the literature on Head Start children by examining the effect of peer relationship support on children’s competence in peer play-variables which have received little attention in previous early intervention research. Our findings are consistent with prior studies based on predominantly middle-class samples (Howes, 1988). Head Start children

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who were able to establish mutual friendships at the beginning of the school year made greater improvements in peer-play skills at the end of the year. These children were more sociable with peers and were also more likely to engage in cooperative-pretend play, although this latter finding applied only to girls. Mutual friendships thus appear to provide a supportive social context in which children can learn and develop competent peer-play skills. Our results indicate, however, that the relationship between peer support and competent peer play is a reciprocal one. Children who engaged in more cooperative pretend play at the beginning of the school year had more mutual friends and were better liked by peers at the end of the year. Likewise, children who initially engaged in more social play with peers had higher levels of subsequent peer preference. This pattern is conistent with Ladd et al.‘s (1988) finding that a higher level of cooperative play at the beginning of preschool was predictive of gains in peer acceptance over the school year. Similarly, Howes and Matheson (1992) found that individual differences in children’s tendency to engage in advanced forms of play at an earlier developmental period were predictive of differences in peer competence later in development. In contrast to the peer-play findings, initial-mutual friendship and peer preference made no significant contribution to the prediction of learning skills, classroom behaviors, or perceived competence, after controlling for prior adjustment. These negative results are at odds with Ladd’s (1990) findings that friendship and peer preference were predictive of gains in kindergarten children’s self-perceptions and school performance. They also contrast with the research of Alexander and Entwistle (1988) in which peer popularity was found to predict children’s academic achievement in first and second grades. Developmental factors may account for the negative results in the present research. For example, the tendency to engage in peer comparison processes increases over the early elementary grades (Ruble, Boggiano, Feldman, dz Loebl, 1980) and may partly account for the greater influence of peer relations on older children’s perceived competencies and academic performance. In addition, the nature of peer influences may be constrained by the contexts in which they occur. Preschool peer interactions are most likely to occur in the context of informal, free-play activities, whereas grade school children’s peer interactions are likely to occur in the context of structured, small-group academic activities as wll as during informal play. Limitations and Conclusions The present findings are based on a relatively small, local sample of Head Start children and thus may have limited generalizability. Also, like all correlational studies, the present research cannot provide conclusive evidence regarding causality. Although our findings tend to support the view that

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parent involvement in Head Start has positive effects on the child’s school adjustment, well-designed intervention studies are needed in order to determine whether parent involvement in school is actually causally related to improved child outcomes. Unfortunately, past intervention research in this area has suffered from a lack of methodologic~ rigor and a tendency to focus rather narrowly on only one type of parent involvement-namely the “parent as intevenor” in the child’s educational activities (White et al., 1992). This latter limitation applies to the present research as well. Our measure of parent involvement focused only on school involvement and employed teachers as the sole reporting sources. Future research should include multidimensional assessments of parent involvement as well as multiple data sources. Further research is also needed to determine the processes through which parental school involvement influences the child’s adjustment. Reynolds (1992) suggested that parental involvement in school might lead to improved academic achievement by way of its positive effect on the child’s motivation and self confidence as well as through parents’ improved attitudes and optimism. Similar interpretations have been posited to account for the long-term effects of early intervention (Lazar & Darlington, 1982). There is a need or both short-term and long-term longitudinal studies to assess factors mediating parent involvement and child outcomes. With respect to Head Start policy and practice, these parent involvement findings suggest that current efforts toward increasing parent participation in Head Start may be appropriately directed. However, such efforts will need to be guided by a more differentiated understanding of the nature and role of parent involvement if they are to prove beneficial. The findings also suggest the need for further attention to the potential benefits of peer support in at-risk children’s adjustment to the early education context. In particular, longer-term longitudinal research is needed to determine whether the immediate effects of peer friendship found in the present research are sustained beyond preschool and to explore possible developmental and contextual changes in the relative contributions of parent and peer support to different aspects of the child’s school adjustment. In considering the practical implications of these peer support results, some additional aspects of the findings need to be considered. Although, mutual friendship was found to facilitate the development of children’s peer play, such friendships declined signi~cantly over the course of the school year, a pattern attributed to the high rate of student turnover in the Head Start classrooms that were studied. The lack of a consistent and stable classroom peer group may thus interfere with children’s development of peer social competencies. The problem of high-staff turnover has recently been recognized as a potential threat to child care quality. The present findings suggest that ongoing efforts related to Head Start expansion and quality would be advised to consider the issue of student turnover as well.

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In addition to declines in mutual frienship, the observation data showed that the overall proportion of cooperative-pretend play was quite low, even though children made significant gains over the school year with respect to social and cooperative-pretend play. The low levels of more developmentally advanced play forms may be partly due to the program emphasis on structured, teacher-directed activities. Head Start training efforts may need to assist teachers in achieving a more balanced curricululm approach that is likely to enhance children’s social as well as intellectual adjustment in preschool. REFERENCES Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion. (1993). Creating a 21st century Head Start: Final report of the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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