Family socio-economic status and children’s play behaviors: The mediating role of home environment

Sixian LI, Jin SUN, Jingxuan DONG

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Family socio-economic status (SES) is a significant predictor of children’s early learning performance, while little is known about the relationship between family SES and children’s play. This study aimed to examine how family SES was related to different aspects of children’s play behaviors and whether the home environment served as a mediator in this relationship. A total of 844 mothers of children aged three to six (Nboys = 431) from different SES backgrounds (Nlow-SES = 123, Nmedium-SES = 322, Nhigh-SES = 399) reported the situation of the home environment and their children’s play behaviors with self-developed questionnaires. Results of regression analyses showed that family SES significantly predicted the level of Imagination, Approaches to Learning, and Emotion Expression in children’s play and that the home environment partially mediated such relationships. The results indicate SES-related differences in children’s play behaviors and offer the possibility of narrowing such discrepancies by establishing a child-friendly home environment. Copyright © 2022 by the authors.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1385
JournalChildren
Volume9
Issue number9
Early online date14 Sept 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

Citation

Li, S., Sun, J., & Dong, J. (2022). Family socio-economic status and children’s play behaviors: The mediating role of home environment. Children, 9(9). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/children9091385

Keywords

  • Family socio-economic status
  • Home environment
  • Children’s play behaviors
  • Chinese

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Family socio-economic status and children’s play behaviors: The mediating role of home environment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.