Oregon State University-Cascades, Bend, OR, USA.
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Prev Sci. 2019 May;20(4):468-477. doi: 10.1007/s11121-019-01002-8.
The current study examined links between social determinants across communities and school readiness of children attending kindergarten in each community, in literacy, math, self-regulation, and social skills. Four types of social determinants were explored: socioeconomic, crime/violence, health and well-being, and access to resources. Data came from the Oregon Kindergarten Assessment, with 40,652 entering kindergarteners attending 706 schools in the fall of 2014. The 706 schools were nested within 36 counties. Variables representing social determinants were drawn from a variety of publicly available data sources from the year(s) most recently prior to the 2014-2015 school year. Bayesian multilevel modeling was conducted with children nested within schools, within counties. Children's school readiness in all four domains was negatively predicted by economic disadvantage at the school-level (indicated by other children with whom they attend Kindergarten), accounting for economic disadvantage in their own household. Moreover, school-level economic disadvantage amplified the negative effects of children's economic disadvantage on their school readiness. Four county-level social determinants also predicted one or more of the four school readiness outcomes, accounting for child- and school-level factors: child care supply, behavioral crime, maternal smoking, and adult health. County-level findings should be interpreted with caution due to a small sample and exploratory approach. However, this study is a first step to helping leaders address critical questions about how community risk factors like crime, and resources like child care, relate to school readiness among children in their communities.
本研究考察了社区内各种社会决定因素与每个社区内上幼儿园儿童的准备情况之间的联系，这些准备情况包括读写、数学、自我调节和社交技能。探索了四种类型的社会决定因素：社会经济、犯罪/暴力、健康和福利以及资源获取。数据来自俄勒冈州幼儿园评估，共有 40652 名 2014 年秋季入读幼儿园的儿童参加了 706 所学校。这 706 所学校被嵌套在 36 个县内。代表社会决定因素的变量来自于最近一年（或几年）之前的 2014-2015 学年之前的各种公开可用数据源。采用贝叶斯多层次模型，对嵌套在学校和嵌套在县内的儿童进行分析。儿童在所有四个领域的学校准备情况均受到学校层面经济劣势（由他们一起上幼儿园的其他孩子表示）的负面影响，这反映了他们自己家庭的经济劣势。此外，学校层面的经济劣势放大了儿童经济劣势对其学校准备情况的负面影响。四个县一级的社会决定因素也预测了四个学校准备结果中的一个或多个，考虑了儿童和学校层面的因素：儿童保育供应、行为犯罪、母亲吸烟和成年人健康。由于样本较小且采用探索性方法，因此应谨慎解释县一级的发现。然而，这项研究是帮助领导者解决有关社区风险因素（如犯罪）和儿童保育等资源如何与社区中儿童的学校准备情况相关的关键问题的第一步。
