This longitudinal study of low-income families tested
neighborhood-, family-, and child-centered promotive factors in
early childhood, responses to an early family intervention, and
their interactions as predictors of school-entry levels of and
early school-age gains in academic skills. Using a
racially-diverse, low-income sample (n = 527) from a
randomized controlled trial of the Family Check-Up (FCU)
intervention and Bayesian multilevel regression modeling, we
tested whether neighborhood cohesion, positive mother–child
engagement, and child self-regulation in early childhood (ages
2–5 years) and their interactions with FCU group assignment
predicted the intercept and slope of academic skills across child
age 5, 7.5, and 8.5 years. Higher positive mother–child
engagement and child self-regulation predicted higher academic
skills at school entry. An interaction between the FCU
intervention and positive mother–child engagement predicted gains
in academic skills compared to national norms. The findings
suggest the FCU intervention leveraged positive mother–child
engagement in early childhood to promote academic skills,
offering a potential avenue from which to prevent income
achievement gaps before school entry.
Dr. Choe received his doctoral degree in Psychology with a
developmental emphasis from the University of Michigan in 2012.
His research examines the development of self-regulation,
executive functions, and conduct problems throughout childhood,
as well as family stressors, such as harsh parenting and maternal
depression, that contribute to the intergenerational transmission
of antisocial behavior, mental illness, and poverty.
