Risk, Resilience, and Resources: Maternal Supportiveness and Family Resources and Their Impact on School Readiness Among Economically Disadvantaged Children in Latine Families

The transition to kindergarten is a critical developmental period in childhood. Although the link between supportive parental caregiving and income for child school readiness is well established, it remains relatively unknown how maternal supportiveness and family resources change over time to promote school readiness. Additionally, with a growing focus on a strengths-based approach to investigating Latine families, research in this area aims to better understand how the links between factors like caregiving and income, and later school readiness are mediated by child, parent, and family risk and resilience factors among Latine low-income families. The present study utilized latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) to investigate the longitudinal trajectories of maternal supportiveness and family resources across 14, 24, and 36 months and their direct and indirect effects on school readiness outcomes in Latine families. Using data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSREP), low-income, Latine families were extracted from the larger sample (N=486 families of mothers and children; 54% girls). The model revealed moderately high and increasing rates of family resources. Additionally, families demonstrated relatively high and stable levels of maternal supportiveness across time that did not vary across families. Strong associations between maternal supportiveness and family resources at 14 months and later school readiness outcomes were identified. Findings from this study could be informative for family policy makers and early childhood educators in how to best support low-income, Latine families in promoting family strengths that support the development of school readiness skills.