Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University.
J Fam Psychol. 2022 Mar;36(2):280-290. doi: 10.1037/fam0000886. Epub 2021 Jun 28.
Maternal education is often considered an important determinant of children's early development. However, there is little empirical evidence on whether it is maternal education that contributes to better developmental outcomes or other ecological factors that relate to both education and children's development. This study used data on 4,874 mother-child (M age = 47.7 months) dyads from Uganda of the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey to assess the effects of maternal education on parenting and children's development. Taking advantage of a natural experiment with an instrumental variables approach, the study identified positive causal impacts of maternal schooling on children's development. Additional years of schooling also increased maternal engagement in stimulating activities, children's attendance to early childhood education programs, and reduced harsh corporal punishment. A mediation analysis suggested that increases in maternal stimulation and children's attendance to early childhood education programs and reductions in harsh corporal punishment partially explain the effects of maternal education on children's development. The positive impacts of education on parenting and child development indicate the need for more efforts to expand access to education in Uganda and other low- and- middle-income countries, including the abolishment of school fees for primary education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
母亲的教育水平通常被认为是儿童早期发展的重要决定因素。然而，关于是母亲的教育水平促进了更好的发展结果，还是与教育和儿童发展都相关的其他生态因素，实证证据很少。本研究利用来自乌干达的 2016 年人口与健康调查中 4874 对母婴（母亲年龄=47.7 个月）的数据，评估了母亲教育对育儿和儿童发展的影响。该研究利用工具变量方法进行了一项自然实验，确定了母亲受教育程度对儿童发展的积极因果影响。额外的受教育年限也增加了母亲参与刺激活动的程度、儿童接受早期儿童教育计划的程度，并减少了严厉的体罚。中介分析表明，母亲的刺激程度增加、儿童接受早期儿童教育计划的程度增加以及严厉体罚的减少部分解释了母亲教育对儿童发展的影响。教育对育儿和儿童发展的积极影响表明，乌干达和其他中低收入国家需要加大努力扩大教育机会，包括取消小学教育的学费。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2022 APA，保留所有权利）。
