Literacy starts at home: Examining the interplay between parental involvement, socioeconomic factors, and preschoolers’ cognitive development

Parent involvement is a major factor in the initiation of a child's reading skills and challenges. However, the education level of parents and the social and economic status of the community may hinder such responsive behaviors. This research examines the contributions of continuous parental engagement on the reading habits and cognitive development of preschoolers via the home literacy environment and socio-economic status as a mediator. The research design was quasi-experimental, and the participants were 312 parents and their preschoolers from Xi'an, China. Data were obtained from various pre-tests, an eight-week reading intervention program, post-test questionnaires, parent interviews, and focus groups. The results demonstrated that parental participation caused changes in children's reading habits, the home literacy environment, and their cognitive development. For instance, the mediation evaluation provided an indication that the availability of home literacy resources partially mediated the relationship between early reading in the preschool stage and academic development of preschoolers, and parental education and socio-economic status were the main factors. The different educational chances leading to the varying results have been brought to the forefront. The research indicates that elementary education projects that guarantee that families of low socio-economic and educational backgrounds have access to reading programs should mainly concentrate on the promotion of reading, the adoption of inclusive literacy practices, and the progress towards societal equity. The research is limited as summarized by the non-randomized design, self-reported data sources, and a short intervention time frame, limiting possible longitudinal generalizability, but still adds new empirical knowledge regarding the complex overlap between parental involvement, home literacy environments, and socio-economic aspects on early child development that describes a valuable insight for policy innovation and further research.