Table C.
Selected Descriptive Statistics by Reference Group
| Variable | Head Start(n= 386) |
Parental care(n= 451) |
Prekindergarten(n= 701) |
Other centers(n= 1,041) |
Other nonparental(n= 224) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | |
| Child characteristics | ||||||||||
| Child male | 0.49 | 0.50 | 0.55† | 0.50 | 0.54 | 0.50 | 0.52 | 0.50 | 0.54 | 0.50 |
| Age at in-home assessment (months) | 64.13 | 2.52 | 64.00 | 2.56 | 64.10 | 2.45 | 64.23 | 2.54 | 64.47 | 2.75 |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 0.07 | 0.26 | 0.19** | 0.39 | 0.15** | 0.35 | 0.21** | 0.41 | 0.17** | 0.37 |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 0.60 | 0.49 | 0.41** | 0.49 | 0.50** | 0.50 | 0.49** | 0.50 | 0.43** | 0.50 |
| Hispanic | 0.21 | 0.41 | 0.25 | 0.43 | 0.22 | 0.42 | 0.15** | 0.36 | 0.23 | 0.42 |
| Biracial/other | 0.11 | 0.32 | 0.15 | 0.36 | 0.13 | 0.34 | 0.15† | 0.36 | 0.18* | 0.38 |
| Behavioral & cognitive scores at age 3 | ||||||||||
| PPVT–III scores | 85.23 | 17.11 | 84.89 | 17.44 | 88.00** | 16.57 | 89.14** | 17.50 | 88.26* | 16.65 |
| Social competence | 15.36 | 2.40 | 15.17 | 2.71 | 15.69* | 2.44 | 15.76** | 2.35 | 15.65 | 2.57 |
| Attention problems | 2.51 | 1.51 | 2.25* | 1.54 | 2.35† | 1.59 | 2.29* | 1.52 | 2.30† | 1.40 |
| Internalizing behavior problems | 10.89 | 5.51 | 10.06* | 5.84 | 9.24** | 5.39 | 9.64** | 5.34 | 9.64** | 5.11 |
| Externalizing behavior problems | 13.55 | 7.88 | 11.95** | 7.39 | 12.20** | 7.58 | 12.15** | 7.33 | 12.86 | 7.41 |
| Mother and household characteristics | ||||||||||
| Employment at child’s age 3 | ||||||||||
| Work paid < 35 hrs per week | 0.17 | 0.38 | 0.12† | 0.33 | 0.15 | 0.36 | 0.19 | 0.39 | 0.13 | 0.34 |
| Work paid ≥35 + hrs per week | 0.44 | 0.50 | 0.28** | 0.45 | 0.52** | 0.50 | 0.45 | 0.50 | 0.55** | 0.50 |
| Looking for job | 0.25 | 0.43 | 0.26 | 0.44 | 0.19* | 0.39 | 0.19* | 0.39 | 0.25 | 0.43 |
| Not working | 0.15 | 0.35 | 0.34** | 0.47 | 0.14 | 0.35 | 0.18 | 0.38 | 0.07** | 0.25 |
| Education | ||||||||||
| Less than high school | 0.29 | 0.45 | 0.44** | 0.50 | 0.24† | 0.42 | 0.21** | 0.41 | 0.30 | 0.46 |
| High school diploma/GED | 0.38 | 0.49 | 0.24** | 0.42 | 0.28** | 0.45 | 0.29** | 0.46 | 0.33 | 0.47 |
| Some college/tech school | 0.29 | 0.46 | 0.25 | 0.44 | 0.35* | 0.48 | 0.33 | 0.47 | 0.31 | 0.46 |
| Bachelor’s degree/graduate | 0.04 | 0.19 | 0.07* | 0.26 | 0.13** | 0.34 | 0.17** | 0.38 | 0.06 | 0.24 |
| Mother cognitive ability score | 6.44 | 2.29 | 6.53 | 2.67 | 6.93** | 2.60 | 7.01** | 2.53 | 6.90* | 2.54 |
| Mother depressed in past year | 0.24 | 0.43 | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.18* | 0.39 | 0.21 | 0.41 | 0.27 | 0.45 |
| Parenting and learning environment | ||||||||||
| Harsh parenting score | 0.61 | 1.14 | 0.45† | 1.06 | 0.49 | 0.99 | 0.45† | 1.03 | 0.57 | 1.14 |
| Maternal responsivity score | 5.08 | 1.09 | 5.07 | 1.00 | 5.13 | 0.99 | 5.18† | 0.87 | 5.09 | 1.18 |
| Cognitively stimulating materials | 9.44 | 1.19 | 9.43 | 1.18 | 9.54 | 1.14 | 9.63** | 1.09 | 9.49 | 1.21 |
| Household income at child’s age 3 | ||||||||||
| Below 50% poverty line | 0.31 | 0.46 | 0.30 | 0.46 | 0.20** | 0.40 | 0.19** | 0.39 | 0.24† | 0.43 |
| 50–100% poverty line | 0.27 | 0.44 | 0.22† | 0.41 | 0.17** | 0.37 | 0.16** | 0.37 | 0.18* | 0.39 |
| 100–200% poverty line | 0.26 | 0.44 | 0.26 | 0.44 | 0.27 | 0.45 | 0.23 | 0.42 | 0.29 | 0.45 |
| 200–300% poverty line | 0.10 | 0.30 | 0.12 | 0.33 | 0.16** | 0.37 | 0.14* | 0.35 | 0.15† | 0.36 |
| 300% + poverty line | 0.06 | 0.24 | 0.10 | 0.29† | 0.20** | 0.40 | 0.27** | 0.44 | 0.14** | 0.34 |
Note. Two-tailed t statistics testing mean differences between Head Start participants and children in each reference group. PPVT–III = Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (3rd ed.; Dunn, Dunn, & Dunn, 1997).
†
p < .10.
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.