Direct and indirect associations between parents’ and children’s literacy and numeracy skills: A longitudinal study in Hong Kong Chinese families

Abstract

We examined the relationship between parents’ and children’s literacy and numeracy and whether the relationship was mediated by children’s cognitive skills. One hundred and thirty Hong Kong Chinese children (mean age = 6 years and 3 months, 51.5 % female) were assessed on nonverbal IQ, phonological awareness (PA), and rapid automatized naming (RAN), and one year later on word reading and arithmetic calculation. Their parents were also tested on word dictation and arithmetic calculation. Results showed that parents’ dictation was weakly but consistently associated with children’s word reading. In contrast, parents’ arithmetic calculation was not consistently associated with children’s arithmetic calculation. RAN predicted both literacy and numeracy, whereas neither RAN nor PA mediated the relationship between parents’ and children’s academic skills. These findings suggest that while children’s literacy and numeracy may partly share similar cognitive underpinnings, their intergenerational association may be generally weak and primarily domain-specific.