Maternal Education and Chinese Second Graders' Performance in Language and Literacy and Math: Testing the Mediating Effect of the Home Environment

We tested possible mediating effect of 12 variables within the home environment on the link between maternal education level and Language and Literacy and Math scores in a sample of Chinese second graders (N = 303-306). Data on maternal education and home environment variables were obtained from the parents in January of 2019, while data on test scores were directly obtained from the children's school in October of 2019. Path analyses showed that maternal education both directly and indirectly affected the children's Language and Literacy scores and Math scores. The significant mediators included number of books at home and number of days that the children read for fun at home each week. As the identified mediating variables are malleable, strategies that promote maternal awareness on the benefit of cognitively enriched home environment might benefit children's academic performance.