Article
The Longitudinal Effects of Young Children’s Home Environment Stimuli on Social Competence: The Mediating Effects of Linguistic and Cognitive Development
| e-ISSN | 2982-6845 |
| p-ISSN | 1226-4474 |
| Metrics | Views 0 / Downloads 0 |
Abstract
The study examined the longitudinal effects of home environment stimuli on the linguistic and cognitivedevelopment and social competence of young children. The study used data from 951 young children fromthe 5th, 6th, and 7th wave of the Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC). Data were analyzed by meansof descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha and correlation; the hypothesized model was verified usingstructural equation modeling analysis. The results can be summarized as follows. Firstly, home environmentstimuli at 4-years-old significantly predicted better linguistic and cognitive development at 5-years-old whenthe effects of parents’ educational attainment levels on home environment stimuli were controlled.Secondly, there was a significant influence of high levels of linguistic and cognitive development at5-years-old on positive social competence of 6-year-olds. Lastly, the linguistic and cognitive development at5-years-old had a significant mediating effect in the relationship between home environment stimuli at4-years-old and social competence at 6-years-old. The results of this study highlighted the importance oftimely linguistic and cognitive development as a mediating factor in the connection between homeenvironment stimuli and the level of social interactive skills. Other related implications of these findingsand suggestions for future research are also discussed.