School readiness in children born to Hispanic adolescent mothers compared to children of Hispanic post-adolescent mothers

Abstract

A non-experimental, explanatory four-group research design was conducted to investigate the level of school readiness and quality of home environment of children of younger and older Hispanic adolescent mothers as compared to the school readiness scores of children of younger and older Hispanic post-adolescent mothers. Several community health-based pediatric clinics were used to select 113 subjects who were assigned to one of four groups according to maternal age. Instruments included the Family Information Questionnaire, the ABC Inventory to Assess Kindergarten and School Readiness, and the Home Screening Questionnaire. A one-way analysis of variance demonstrated that the level of school readiness was not influenced by maternal age. School readiness scores were not significantly different in the children born to adolescent mothers and children born to post-adolescent mothers. In addition, the quality of home environment was not significantly different in the children born to adolescent mothers and children born to post-adolescent mothers. The quality of the home environment was found to be positively related to the school readiness scores of the children born to adolescent and post-adolescent mothers.

The Home Screening Questionnaire scores were found to be a predictor of school readiness. In this study it can be shown that developmental outcomes can be predicted from the home environment.