Sharon Goldfeld1, Margarita Moreno-Betancur2, Shuaijun Guo3, Fiona Mensah4, Elodie O'Connor5, Sarah Gray6, Shiau Chong5, Sue Woolfenden7, Katrina Williams8, Amanda Kvalsvig9, Hannah Badland10, Francisco Azpitarte11, Meredith O'Connor4. 1. Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital (S Goldfeld, S Guo, E O'Connor, S Gray, S Chong, A Kvalsvig, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia; Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne (S Goldfeld, M Moreno-Betancur, S Guo, F Mensah, K Williams, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: Sharon.Goldfeld@rch.org.au. 2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne (S Goldfeld, M Moreno-Betancur, S Guo, F Mensah, K Williams, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia; Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital (M Moreno-Betancur and F Mensah), Melbourne, Australia. 3. Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital (S Goldfeld, S Guo, E O'Connor, S Gray, S Chong, A Kvalsvig, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia; Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne (S Goldfeld, M Moreno-Betancur, S Guo, F Mensah, K Williams, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia. 4. Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne (S Goldfeld, M Moreno-Betancur, S Guo, F Mensah, K Williams, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia; Population Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (F Mensah and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia. 5. Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital (S Goldfeld, S Guo, E O'Connor, S Gray, S Chong, A Kvalsvig, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia. 6. Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital (S Goldfeld, S Guo, E O'Connor, S Gray, S Chong, A Kvalsvig, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne (S Gray), Melbourne, Australia. 7. Department of Community Child Health, Sydney Children's Hospital Network (S Woolfenden), Sydney, Australia; Discipline of Pediatrics, University of New South Wales (S Woolfenden), Sydney, Australia. 8. Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne (S Goldfeld, M Moreno-Betancur, S Guo, F Mensah, K Williams, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia; Department of Pediatrics, Monash University (K Williams), Melbourne, Australia; Clinical Sciences, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (K Williams), Melbourne, Australia. 9. Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital (S Goldfeld, S Guo, E O'Connor, S Gray, S Chong, A Kvalsvig, and M O'Connor), Melbourne, Australia; Department of Public Health, University of Otago (A Kvalsvig), Wellington, New Zealand. 10. Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University (H Badland), Melbourne, Australia. 11. School of Social Sciences, Loughborough University (F Azpitarte), Loughborough, United Kingdom.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds have poorer learning outcomes. These inequities are a significant public health issue, tracking forward to adverse health outcomes in adulthood. We examined the potential to reduce socioeconomic gaps in children's reading skills through increasing home reading and preschool attendance among disadvantaged children. METHODS: We drew on data from the nationally representative birth cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 5107) to examine the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage (0-1 year) on children's reading skills (8-9 years). An interventional effects approach was applied to estimate the extent to which improving the levels of home reading (2-5 years) and preschool attendance (4-5 years) of socioeconomically disadvantaged children to be commensurate with their advantaged peers, could potentially reduce socioeconomic gaps in children's reading skills. RESULTS: Socioeconomically disadvantaged children had a higher risk of poor reading outcomes compared to more advantaged peers: absolute risk difference = 20.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 16.0%-24.2%). Results suggest that improving disadvantaged children's home reading and preschool attendance to the level of their advantaged peers could eliminate 6.5% and 2.1% of socioeconomic gaps in reading skills, respectively. However, large socioeconomic gaps would remain, with disadvantaged children maintaining an 18.3% (95% CI: 14.0%-22.7%) higher risk of poor reading outcomes in absolute terms. CONCLUSION: There are clear socioeconomic disparities in children's reading skills by late childhood. Findings suggest that interventions that improve home reading and preschool attendance may contribute to reducing these inequities, but alone are unlikely to be sufficient to close the equity gap.
OBJECTIVE:Children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds have poorer learning outcomes. These inequities are a significant public health issue, tracking forward to adverse health outcomes in adulthood. We examined the potential to reduce socioeconomic gaps in children's reading skills through increasing home reading and preschool attendance among disadvantaged children. METHODS: We drew on data from the nationally representative birth cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 5107) to examine the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage (0-1 year) on children's reading skills (8-9 years). An interventional effects approach was applied to estimate the extent to which improving the levels of home reading (2-5 years) and preschool attendance (4-5 years) of socioeconomically disadvantaged children to be commensurate with their advantaged peers, could potentially reduce socioeconomic gaps in children's reading skills. RESULTS: Socioeconomically disadvantaged children had a higher risk of poor reading outcomes compared to more advantaged peers: absolute risk difference = 20.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 16.0%-24.2%). Results suggest that improving disadvantaged children's home reading and preschool attendance to the level of their advantaged peers could eliminate 6.5% and 2.1% of socioeconomic gaps in reading skills, respectively. However, large socioeconomic gaps would remain, with disadvantaged children maintaining an 18.3% (95% CI: 14.0%-22.7%) higher risk of poor reading outcomes in absolute terms. CONCLUSION: There are clear socioeconomic disparities in children's reading skills by late childhood. Findings suggest that interventions that improve home reading and preschool attendance may contribute to reducing these inequities, but alone are unlikely to be sufficient to close the equity gap.
Authors: Amanda Alderton; Meredith O'Connor; Hannah Badland; Lucy Gunn; Claire Boulangé; Karen Villanueva Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-06-01 Impact factor: 4.614