Major and Classification
Chicano Studies, Psychology
Faculty Mentors
- Professor Joann Farver
Department
- Chicano/Latino Studies & Psychology
McNair Project
“What Factors Affect Parent Involvement in Latino Family Households?”
To understand how early child literacy can evolve at an earlier age, experiments need to be conducted to see which interactions are effective. Although the effectiveness of parent interactions have been the main target in current research, very little research has been done to see what affects parent interactions. In this study, I examine parent attitudes towards home literacy activities and how such attitudes affect their involvement in their children’s reading. The participants of this experiment were low income Latino families living in the South Central area of Los Angeles. 200 parents of children in a Head Start program were given a questionnaire to fill out to measure their frequency of home literacy skills practiced, their attitudes towards reading at home to their children, and many more factors. The results of this study show how time constraints, mothers’ negative beliefs about reading to their children, and children’s lack of interests affect the frequency of home literacy activities.