Citation

Gershoff ET, Ansari A, Purtell KM, Sexton HR. J. Fam. Psychol. 2015; 30(4): 480-491.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/fam0000172

PMID

26618521

Abstract

This study examined whether Head Start, the nation's (USA) 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

Language: en