How does family socioeconomic status influence children's reading ability? Evidence from meta-analytic structural equation modeling

作者：Jiahui Li, Peng Peng, Ning Ding, Xue’er Ma, Jingjing Zhao · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.31234/osf.io/7yv6r · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Reading and Literacy Development

AbstractMany studies have shown that family socioeconomic status (SES) influences the development of children's reading ability, but the mechanisms underlying this effect remain unclear. This study used meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) analysis to examine the mediating role of children's linguistic skills (phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge) in the relations between SES and reading (accuracy, comprehension and fluency), as well as potential moderators including age, country SES, and SES measurement type based on 83,200 individuals from 458 independent studies. The results indicated that (1) the relations between SES and reading were partially mediated by phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge; (2) although age, country SES, and SES measurement type did not moderate the direct associations between SES and reading abilities, the moderation effects of age, country SES, and SES measurement type can be exerted through the linguistic mediation pathway: older age, higher country SES, and composite SES index might induce larger indirect impact from SES to reading ability. These results suggested that SES made both direct and indirect effect via linguistic skills on reading. Such a linguistic mediation mechanism may be moderated by age, country SES, and SES measurement. Our findings have important implications for understanding the role of SES in reading development and early screening and intervention for reading impairment.