Home literacy environments across developmental contexts: the roles of social–emotional competence and coparenting

This study employed a comparative ex post facto design to examine the associations of coparenting and children’s social–emotional competence with the home literacy environment (HLE) of preschoolers with special needs and their typically developing peers. The sample consisted of 220 parents of 3–6-year-old children attending public and private preschools in Ankara, Türkiye. Data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and multiple regression analyses. Typically developing children demonstrated higher mean scores on both HLE and social–emotional competence (SEARS-P). Regression analyses indicated that social–emotional competence was the strongest predictor of HLE for typically developing children, whereas it was the only significant predictor for children with special needs (R2 = .16). Coparenting did not directly predict HLE in either group. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, the study proposes the Adaptive Home Literacy Environment (Adaptive HLE) Model as a conceptual framework for interpreting the observed associations among child competence, family processes, and the home literacy environment. The findings suggest that social–emotional competence may be particularly relevant to understanding variation in home literacy environments across developmental groups. By providing evidence from Türkiye, the study highlights the importance of considering developmental and family contexts when examining early literacy experiences.