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Author: Hulick, Patricia Ann
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Hulick, Patricia Ann
Modeling the Effects of the Early Home Environment on Cognitive Abilities in Children and Adolescents
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia, 1999
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Cognitive Ability; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Intelligence; Memory for Digit Span (WISC) - also see Digit Span

Although human developmental research emphasizes the many changes that take place from birth through adolescence, the focus of intellectual ability research has continued to center on changes in adulthood. While these studies recognize the importance of infancy, childhood, and adolescence as the building blocks of adult development, life-span research typically aggregates these individuals into a single group. By combining young individuals in this way, important differences may be overlooked. The present study examined the influence of the home environment on cognitive abilities in children and adolescents. Participants were subsets selected from the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS); the sixth cohort of the survey, the children of the fifth cohort, was the focus of the present study. The analysis was divided into five sections. The first set of analyses involved a rescaling of the HOME-SF instrument as well as an investigation of its factor structure. The second set of analyses represented here examined the relationship between a composite measure of the home environment and a composite measure of ability for N = 408 children/adolescents who ranged in age from 5-11 years in 1990 and from 8.5-14.5 years in 1994. Concurrent and subsequent effects were examined. Three additional analytic models were used to examine these relationships by concentrating on one aspect of the model at a time. The additional models refined the measurement of ability, home environment, and age. Results showed a small, but consistent effect of the early home environment on later cognitive ability. This finding was upheld across abilities and measures of the home environment. However, these results also suggested that the early-late relationships might not be invariant across age. Additional considerations and suggestions for further analysis are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Hulick, Patricia Ann. Modeling the Effects of the Early Home Environment on Cognitive Abilities in Children and Adolescents. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia, 1999.