Changes in parents’ spanking and reading as mechanisms for Head Start impacts on children.
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This study examined whether Head Start, the nation's 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
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Analysis of a national randomized controlled trial of Head Start found that parents significantly reduced their spanking, which was linked with decreases in child aggression over time.
“analysis of data from a national randomized controlled trial of the federal Head Start program for low income children found that parents in the program significantly reduced their spanking, which was in turn linked with decreases in child aggression over time (Gershoff, Ansari, Purtell, & Sexton, 2016).”
From Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. (2016) · cites this paper as Gershoff, Ansari, Purtell, & Sexton, 2016
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Cited by
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Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses.
Gershoff, E. T., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2016) · Journal of Family Psychology · doi:10.1037/fam0000191 · Cited by 931 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Gershoff, E. T., Ansari, A., Purtell, K. M., & Sexton, H. R.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Family Psychology
- Published
- 2016-06
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 480-491
- ISSN
- 0893-3200 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1293
- PMC
- PMC4885802
- OpenAlex
- W2286661131
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6
- FWCI
- 23.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Family Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD069564, T32 HD007081, R24 HD042849, F32 HD069121)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Parental Involvement in Education
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Keywords
- Head Start, early childhood education, spanking, parent-child reading, parental involvement, spelling skills, child aggression, low-income households, two-generation programs, child behavior, literacy skills, Head Start Impact Study
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Male, Parents, Poverty, Punishment, Reading, United States, Parenting, Early Intervention, Educational
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