Parenting, Socioeconomic Status and Psychosocial Functioning in Peruvian Families and their Children / Crianza, Nivel Socioeconómico y Funcionamiento Psicosocial en Familias Peruanas y sus Niños

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la relación entre dos dimensiones de crianza (crianza positiva y control negativo del comportamiento) y factores psicosociales infantiles (auto-valía y problemas de conducta). Se investigó (a) si el nivel socioeconómico moderaba la relación entre crianza y el funcionamiento psicosocial del niño, (b) si la crianza actuaba como mediador en la relación entre nivel socioeconómico y el funcionamiento psicosocial, por último, (c) si existían efectos de interacción entre crianza positiva y control negativo del comportamiento. La información fue obtenida de 591 niños peruanos y sus familias en zonas urbanas de Lima Metropolitana. Se utilizó Análisis de Regresión Múltiple Jerárquica con el fin de investigar los efectos directos e indirectos (mediación y moderación). Los resultados revelaron un efecto mediador de crianza positiva y control negativo del comportamiento en la relación entre el nivel socioeconómico y la auto-valía. Se discuten implicaciones sobre el importante rol desempeñado por el contexto

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relation between two dimensions of parenting (Positive Parenting and Negative Behavioral Control) and child psychosocial functioning, such as self-worth and problem behavior. We investigated (a) whether socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between parenting and child psychosocial outcomes, (b) whether parenting mediates the relation between socioeconomic status and psychosocial functioning in a Peruvian context and finally, (c) whether there are interaction effects between positive parenting and negative behavioral control. Information was gathered on 591 Peruvian children and their families from the normal population in urban zones of Metropolitan Lima. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate direct and indirect effects (mediation and moderation). Results revealed a significant mediation effect of positive parenting and negative behavioral control in the relationship between socioeconomic status and self-worth. Implications about the role played by context are discussed

Academic performance of peruvian elementary school children: The case of schools in Lima at the 6th grade

Education is in general the basis for development in any country in the world. In the education al field, several international assessments (Pisa, 2006) reflect the great gap that yet subsists among developing countries, in which the case of Peru is not an exception. There have been many national and international academic achievement evaluations that examine the skills and knowledge of students not only in Peru but also in other Latin American countries in different academic domains. One of these examples is the Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (LLECE), in which Peru participated, in order to evaluate and compare the performance achieved by Latin American students of 3rd and 6th grade in core areas like Language, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences. Peru ranks, together with other Latin countries, with scores below the average (Regional Office for Education of UNESCO, 2008). The low ranking of the Peruvian educational system carries heavy implications and consequences, especially to the intellectual and social development of learning disabled Peruvian children. Understanding the relation between academic performance and child development is of paramount importance. The present study examines how spelling, reading and arithmetic performances are associated to various child variables (gender, intelligence, and age), and distal variables such as Socio-Economic Status (SES) or type of school. The subjects in the study were 1.129 elementary school children who were in the 6th grade (11 - 12 years old) in Metropolitan Lima, Perú. Children completed four different tests: In the reading area, the subtest of Procesos Lectores (PROLEC-SE; Cuetos & Ramos, 1999), Reading of Word and Pseudo-word; in the Arithmetic domain, the Number Facility from the Kit of Factor Referenced Cognitive Tests of Ekstrom, French, and Harman (1979) and in the spelling domain, the Spelling Achievement Test from Dioses (2001) was used. The Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was measured using Raven's Progressive Matrices Test (Raven, J., Raven, J.C., & Court, 2004, updated edition). Some preliminary analyses were conducted beforehand in order to overview and examine the structure of the data. Following this, and because of the hierarchical structure of the data (students within classes within schools) multilevel analyses were conducted. Results showed, first and foremost, a great impact of (a) type of school, private schools performed better than in the public sector; (b) intelligence, another essential variable (the higher the IQ the better the academic achievement), and partially of (c) gender, girls showed prevalence over boys in spelling. Likewise, we did not encounter any significant results of socio-economic status in the multilevel analysis. Based on these results, some practical and pedagogical implications were discussed, such as the fundamental effort to bring the lower achievement group into average levels of learning with remedial work, otherwise these students will lack the requisite skills needed to fulfill their secondary school academic expectations. Notwithstanding, we have to point out some limitations such as the lack of data from rural zones that could prevent us from comparisons between rural and urban zones. Future work is necessary in order to investigate academic performance associated with other variables that might influence the child's development, such as parenting behavior or psychosocial factors.

El estudio que se informa examinó de qué manera el rendimiento académico en diversas áreas del aprendizaje tales como ortografía, lectura y aritmética estuvo asociado con diferentes variables relacionadas con niños (por ejemplo: género, inteligencia y edad). Asimismo, se consideraron algunas variables distales como estatus socioeconómico y tipo de colegio. En el estudio participaron 1.129 niños que cursaban 6to grado de educación primaria en Lima Metropolitana (Perú). Los estudiantes completaron cuatro pruebas: En el área de lectura fueron examinados con un subtest de la prueba Procesos Lectores (PROLEC-SE) Lectura de Palabras y Pseudo - palabras (Cuetos & Ramos, 1999). En el área de Aritmética fueron evaluados con el Subtest de Facilidad Numérica de Ekstrom, French y Harman (1979) y en el caso de Ortografía se aplicó la Prueba de Rendimiento Ortográfico (Dioses, 2001). La variable inteligencia fue medida con la Prueba de Matrices Progresivas de Raven (Raven, J., Raven, J.C. & Court, 2004). Debido a la estructura jerárquica de los datos (estudiantes dentro de clases y clases dentro de escuelas) se aplicó análisis multinivel para cada variable académica (ortografía, lectura y aritmética). Los resultados revelaron un gran impacto en primer lugar del tipo de escuela: los alumnos de escuelas privadas rindieron mejor que los de escuelas públicas en todas las áreas académicas; en segundo lugar, la variable inteligencia juega un rol esencial, cuanto mayor es el coeficiente intelectual del estudiante, mejor es el rendimiento académico, y parcialmente del género; las niñas mostraron un mejor desempeño en comparación con los niños en el área de ortografía. Se discuten en detalle algunas repercusiones pedagógicas.