Family socioeconomic status and young children’s learning behaviors: The mediational role of parental expectation, home environment, and parental involvement

Utilizing a national longitudinal sample from China Family Panel Studies (2018), this study examined how family socioeconomic status (SES) is related to young children’s learning behaviors through parental expectation, parental involvement and home learning environment. A total of 1348 children aged 3–5 years were included. Mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results identified a significant relationship between family SES and home learning environment and parental involvement, whereas family SES was only partially related to parental academic expectations. There were no statistically significant relationships between SES and children’s learning behaviors. Moreover, no indirect effects were found between parental expectation, home learning environment, and children’s learning behaviors. However, parental involvement had an indirect effect on children’s learning behaviors. The present study highlights the need to consider the role of parental involvement in supporting the development of young children’s learning behaviors. The findings and discussions raise implications for researchers and practitioners to provide parental involvement support programs for Chinese families from diverse SES backgrounds.