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Results

Descriptive statistic

Readiness to learn at school and child and family characteristics

Readiness to learn at school and home environment

Home environment and child and family characteristics

Readiness to learn at school and home environment: interactions with household income level

Readiness to learn at school and early childhood education activities

Readiness to learn at school: looking back to age 3

Descriptive statistics

Population descriptive statistics. The percentages and numbers of children in various demographic categories (with standard errors of the percentages) appear in Table 1. The children were 49% female and 51% male. For 16% of the children the income level of their household fell below the low income cut-off (LICO), for 38% it fell in a range from the LICO to less than 2 times the LICO, for 27% it fell in a range from 2 times the LICO to less than 3 times the LICO, and for 19% it fell at or above 3 times the LICO. Of the parents, 36% reported having an education level of high school completion or less, while 64% had more than high school completion. The majority of children, 85%, lived in two-parent as opposed to one-parent (15%) families. The reporting parents of 21% of the children were born outside Canada, while 79% were born in Canada. Eleven percent of the children were not attending kindergarten, while 89% were attending. As indicated in the table, 43% of the children lived in large cities of 500,000 population or more, 14% lived in cities of from 100,000 to under 500,000, while 43% lived in smaller cities, towns, or rural areas. Finally, the province of residence of the children was 41% Ontario, 22% Quebec, 12% British Columbia, and 11% Alberta, with the other 6 provinces accounting for the remaining 14%.

Patterns of child and family characteristics. Correlations among child and family characteristics (demographic variables) are presented in Table D-1. As expected, higher household income levels were associated with higher parent educations levels and with two-parent family structures. A significant link was also found between the country of birth of the parent and the population size of the community of residence, reflecting the tendency of immigrant populations to settle in cities rather than smaller communities:  having a reporting parent born outside Canada was correlated with living in a large urban centre. No other correlations among child and family characteristics were significant.

Patterns of readiness to learn measures. Correlations among readiness to learn measures are presented in Table D-2. Significant associations were found among many of the readiness to learn measures. The most striking pattern concerned the communication skill score, which was correlated with measures from all five readiness to learn domains. Children with high communication skill scores tended to have high scores in receptive vocabulary, number knowledge, attention, work effort, self-control of behaviour, and cooperative play. Intercorrelations appeared among receptive vocabulary and academic skill, and those two academic skill scores were themselves strongly correlated. Children with high scores in attention also tended to have high scores in work effort, and both of these measures were associated with self-control of behaviour. These and other patterns that appear in the table provide a picture of how some readiness to learn measures tend to occur together, while others seem not to be linked at all. They provide context for the analyses that follow.

Patterns of home environment variables. Correlations among home environment  variables are presented in Table D-3. Only three of these were significant. Positive parent-child interaction was associated with daily number use, while being read to daily was also linked with daily number use. Looking back two years, participation in organized sports at age 5 was found to be associated with the number of early childhood activities that the child participated in at age 3.

Readiness to learn at school and child and family characteristics

The first step in the analysis was to establish whether children in various demographic groups differed on any of the readiness to learn measures. The mean scores or percentages and the standard errors of all readiness to learn measures by eight child and family characteristics are presented in Table D-4 to D-14. An overview of the findings is presented below.

Sex of the child. Several significant differences in readiness to learn at age 5 were found between girls and boys. Girls scored higher in communication skill (Figure 8), copying and symbol use (Figure 2), attention (Figure 9), and self-control of behaviour (Figure 10), and they were rated higher in independence in dressing (Figure 11). Boys were rated higher in curiosity (Figure 12), while no differences appeared for receptive vocabulary, number knowledge, work effort, cooperative play, or independence in cleanliness between girls and boys.

Household income level. Household income was a significant predictor of six of the eleven readiness to learn measures, with children from lower income households scoring lower than those from higher income level households in every case. Significant differences were found between income levels in receptive vocabulary (Figure 13), communication skill (Figure 14), number knowledge (Figure 15), copying and symbol use (Figure 16), attention (Table D-8), and cooperative play (Table D-12). No differences appeared for work effort, curiosity, self-control of behaviour, independence in dressing, or independence in cleanliness.

Parent education level and family structure.Two child and family characteristics are linked strongly to household income. These are parent education level and family structure (Table D-1). As shown in the tables (Table D-4 to D-14), these two demographic variables presented some of the same patterns of association with readiness to learn measures as household income level, but these were only significant in two of the domains of readiness to learn; specifically, language and communication skill, and academic skill. Lower parent education level was associated with lower receptive vocabulary (Table D-4), communication skill (Table D-5), number knowledge (Table D-6), and copying and symbol use scores (Table D-7). One-parent family status was linked with lower receptive vocabulary (Table D-4), number knowledge (Table D-6), and copying and symbol use scores (Table D-7). No links were found between either parent education level or family structure and the other domains of readiness to learn.

Country of birth of parent. Country of birth of the reporting parent presented three interesting patterns. Children with parents born outside Canada scored significantly lower in receptive vocabulary than those with parents born in Canada. As shown in Figure 17, however, those with parents born outside Canada whose main spoken language at home was either English or French did not differ from children with parents born in Canada in receptive vocabulary score, while those who spoke other languages at home scored well below the other groups. In contrast to receptive vocabulary, those with parents born outside Canada scored significantly higher than others in copying and symbol use (Table D-6). Finally, those with parents born outside Canada were rated as lower in independence in cleanliness than others (Table D-14).

Kindergarten attendance. Most 5-year-old children in Canada, 89% of them, were attending kindergarten in 2002/03 (Table 1). It should be noted that kindergarten attendance differed in important ways among provinces, because of varying provincial policies regarding kindergarten. Only one important difference in readiness to learn appeared between those who did and did not attend, and that was in copying and symbol use score (Figure 18). Those not in kindergarten scored lower than those who were attending kindergarten, a finding that is consistent with the nature of the test, which measures skills that are taught in school (De Lemos 2002). No other differences appeared between these groups for any of the domains of readiness to learn.

Community size.  Few differences in readiness to learn appeared among children living in communities of different sizes in Canada. For receptive vocabulary, children living in cities with populations from 100,000 to under 500,000 had significantly higher scores than those in both smaller (30,000 to under 100,000) and larger (500,000 and over) cities (Table D-4).  In contrast, for copying and symbol use, children living in the largest cities scored significantly higher than those in rural areas, in small towns (under 30,000), and in smaller cities (30,000 to under 100,000) as shown in (Table D-7). Finally, those living in rural areas were rated higher in independence in cleanliness than those in the largest cities (500,000 and over), as shown in Table D-14

Province of residence. Provincial differences were found in receptive vocabulary, number knowledge, and copying and symbol use scores. These are shown in Tables D-4 to D-14. It should be noted that differences among provinces in copying and use of symbols may be accounted for in part by differences among them in kindergarten attendance.

Readiness to learn at school and home environment

Earlier studies in the research literature have found important links between some home environment variables and readiness to learn measures, as discussed in an earlier section. The next step in the present analysis was to determine whether there were important readiness to learn differences linked to home environment variables among Canadian 5-year-olds.  This was done by comparing the means of the continuous readiness to learn measures for the seven home environment variables, and cross-tabulating the categorical readiness to learn measures with the home environment variables. The mean scores (or percentages) and standard errors of all readiness to learn measures for the seven home environment variables are presented in Table D-15 to D-25. An overview of findings is presented below.

Receptive vocabulary. Receptive vocabulary score was linked to four of the seven home environment variables (Table D-15). Higher mean receptive vocabulary scores were found for children who had high levels of positive interaction with the parent, who were read to daily, who participated in organized sports at least weekly, and who participated in lessons in physical activities at least weekly.

Communication skill. Communication skill score was significantly higher for children who had high positive interaction with the parent, for those who participated in organized sports, and for those who participated in lessons in physical activities than for other children (Table D-16).

Number knowledge. Number knowledge score was linked to frequency of reading to the child, participation in organized sports, participation in lessons in physical activities, and participation in lessons in the arts: children with higher levels of participation in these activities had higher scores in number knowledge than did other children (Table D-17).

Copying and symbol use. Copying and symbol use score was linked with participation in organized sports, and lessons in physical activities, and lessons in the arts. For all variables, those children who participated at least weekly tended to have higher scores in copying and symbol use than other children (Table D-18).

Self-regulation of learning (Table D-19 to D-21).  Of the three self-regulation of learning measures, only curiosity was associated with any of the home environment variables. Children who had high levels of positive interaction with the parent and those who were encouraged to use numbers daily were rated higher in curiosity than others (Table D-21). In contrast, those who participated at least weekly in lessons in physical activities were lower in curiosity than others, possibly because of the links described earlier between sex of the child and curiosity on the one hand (high for boys) and lessons in physical activities on the other (high for girls). Neither attention score (Table D-19) nor work effort score (Table D-20) was linked to any of the home environment variables.

Self-control of behaviour.  No differences were found for any of the home environment variables in self-control of behaviour (Table D-22).  

Social competence and independence (Table D-23 to D-25). Children with high levels of positive interaction with the parent, and those who participated at least weekly in unorganized sports were rated higher in cooperative play than other children (Table D-23). Independence in dressing was not associated with any of the home environment variables (Table D-24), while independence in cleanliness was linked to frequency of number use with the child and participation in unorganized sports (Table D-25).

Home environment and child and family characteristics

The next step in the analysis was to determine whether there were important differences between demographic groups in home environment variables that are linked to readiness to learn, as discussed above. These home environment variables were cross-tabulated with the eight child and family characteristics under study to answer this question. The percentages and standard errors of all home environment variables by eight child and family characteristics are presented in Table D-26 to D-32. An overview of the findings is presented below.

Sex of the child.  For two of the seven home environment variables at age 5, significant differences were found between girls and boys (Figure 19). A lower percentage of girls than boys were involved in organized sports on a weekly basis (Table D-29), while a higher percentage of girls than boys participated in lessons in physical activities such as dance lessons, martial arts, and similar pursuits (Table D-31). No differences appeared between girls and boys in positive parent-child interaction (Table D-26), daily reading (Table D-27), daily number use (Table D-28), participation in unorganized sports (Table D-30), or participation in lessons in the arts (Table D-28).

Household income level. Household income level was a significant predictor of all seven home environment variables. In almost all cases, lower household income was associated with lower levels of parental involvement and lower participation in activities by the child. One of the strongest findings here was the link between household income and daily reading to the child (Figure 20): daily reading increased with increasing income levels. For both participation in organized sports and participation in lessons in physical activities, a similar pattern appeared (Figure 21), with significant differences found between all levels of income. Income differences also appeared for participation in unorganized sports (Figure 22). Participation in lessons in the arts was low for children at all income levels, with some income level differences appearing (Table D-32).

Parent education level and family structure.As shown in the tables (Table D-26 to D-32), parent education level and family structure presented many, though not all, of the same patterns as household income level. Lower parent education level and one-parent family structure tended to be associated with lower levels of parental involvement and lower participation in activities by the child.

Country of birth of parent. Country of birth of the reporting parent was linked to several home environment variables (Table D-26 to D-32). Children with parents born outside Canada had lower scores for positive parent-child interaction. A lower proportion of these children were involved in child activities weekly, including participation in organized sports, in unorganized sports, and in lessons in physical activities.

Kindergarten attendance. Differences appeared in almost all of the home environment variables between children who were not attending kindergarten and those who were (Figure 23 ). No differences appeared in positive interaction with the parent or in participation in unorganized sports. However, significantly lower percentages of children who did not attend kindergarten were read to daily and encouraged to use numbers daily than those who attended. Also, significantly lower percentages of children who were not attending kindergarten participated in organized sports, lessons in physical activities, and lessons in the arts. Most children who did not attend kindergarten resided in provinces where kindergarten was not provided, or where they did not meet the age cut-off for attendance, and therefore kindergarten attendance was not a choice for their parents. Although causality cannot be established here, this pattern suggests that attendance at school may lead parents to read and use numbers more with their children, and provide opportunities for other organized instruction and activities.
 
Community size.  Home environment variables varied between levels of community size in ways that were consistent with resources that might be available in those communities (Table D-26 to D-32). Notably, participation in organized sports and in lessons in both physical activities and the arts was lower in rural areas than in larger communities.

Province of residence. Provincial differences were found in several of the home environment variables (Table D-26 to D-32). Differences among the provinces in the percentage of children who were read to daily were particularly striking (Table D-27). A significantly higher percentage of children in Newfoundland and Labrador were read to daily than in any other province, while a significantly lower percentage were read to daily in Quebec. Other provincial differences are shown in the tables, notably in positive parent-child interaction (Table D-26). It should be noted that home environment variables such as reading to the child are based on parent report. Results could reflect differences in parent reporting tendencies rather than differences in actual behaviour.

Readiness to learn at school and home environment: interactions with household income level

Children in lower and higher income homes differed in several readiness to learn  measures. Home environment variables that predicted readiness to learn also varied according to income. Child development researchers  have suggested that differences in home environment variables between low and higher income children may in part account for various observed differences in outcomes between demographic groups. For example, maternal responsiveness, which has been linked to social skills, varies by socioeconomic status (e.g., Brooks-Gunn and Markman 2005; Connell and Prinz 2002; Hill 2001;  Mashburn and Pianta 2006). Regular reading to the child, which varies by income level, is associated with vocabulary development and other cognitive outcomes (Sénéchal and LeFevre 2002; Whitehurst, Falco et al. 1998).  In an effort to cast light on some of the environmental processes that may contribute to income differences in readiness to learn among children, a series of more detailed analyses was undertaken. Analytical procedures are described in Appendix C. The question asked was, are differences in readiness to learn measures between children with different household income levels partly accounted for by differences in home environment variables for these groups? A summary of findings appears in Table 2, and they are discussed briefly below.

As with all correlational data, links found among demographic variables, home environment variables, and readiness to learn measures do not imply causality. While the home environment variable may have resulted in the readiness to learn measure, it is also possible that the readiness to learn measure affected the home environment variable. For example, being read to regularly may produce a higher vocabulary in a child, or if a child has a high receptive vocabulary level, that may encourage the parent to read to the child more. On the other hand, an underlying factor that was not considered in this analysis could explain both the home environment variable and the readiness to learn measure, and it may be linked to the demographic variable as well. However, some of the relationships found here among income levels, home environment variables, and readiness to learn measures are consistent with studies in the research literature reported earlier.

Differences between children with different household income levels. Receptive vocabulary score, communication skill score, number knowledge score, and copying and symbol use score were all predicted by various home environment variables and by household income level, which also predicted the home environment variables. To determine whether the home environment variables partly accounted for differences between income levels on these readiness to learn measures, regression analyses were performed following the procedures described in Appendix C. The results of the regression analyses appear in Table D-33 to D-42. The results suggested that differences in the readiness to learn measures between income levels could be partly accounted for by some, though not all, of the home environment variables. In particular, differences in receptive vocabulary score between lower and higher income children were partly accounted for by daily reading to the child, participation in organized sports, and participation in lessons in physical activities (Table D-33 to D-35). Differences in communication skill score between lower and higher income children were partly accounted for by positive parent-child interaction, participation in organized sports, and lessons in physical activities (Table D-36 to D-38). Also, income level differences in copying and symbol use score were partly accounted for by participation in organized sports, lessons in physical activities, and lessons in the arts. (Table D-39 to D-41). Differences in number knowledge score between lower and higher income children were partly accounted for by daily reading to the child (Table D-42).

These findings can all be interpreted in the same way: whether children were living in low income or higher income households, daily reading, high positive parent-child interaction, participation in organized sports, lessons in physical activities, and lessons in the arts were linked with higher scores on readiness to learn measures. However, the fact that the lower income children were less likely to experience the home environment factor may help to explain the difference in readiness to learn scores between the income levels.

Results for number knowledge score and participation in organized sports and physical activities were more complex, because a significant interaction term was found  in the regression analyses between income level and both organized sports and lessons in physical activities. In order to study number knowledge score in more detail, mean comparisons were used. These analyses found significant differences between those who did and did not participate in organized sports for the lower three household income levels, but no such difference for the highest income level (Table D-43). Similarly, mean comparisons found significant differences between those who did and did not participate in lessons in physical activities for the lower two income levels, but not for the higher two levels (Table D-44). In other words, for lower income children participation in organized sports and physical activities was linked with higher number knowledge scores, but this was not the case for the higher income children, whose scores were high regardless of participation.

Readiness to learn at school and early childhood education activities

A separate set of analyses was undertaken to look at possible links between early childhood education activities at age 3 and readiness to learn measures at age 5. This age 3 variable was strongly linked to household income (Table D-45). The higher the income level the higher the percentage of children who participated in one or more early childhood education activities. For this reason, the analysis of early childhood education activity was undertaken separately for the four household income levels. Because early childhood activity participation was not associated with the sex of the child (Table D-45), separate analyses were not undertaken for girls and boys. The means of all continuous readiness to learn measures at age 5 were compared for children who did and did not participate in early childhood education activities at age 3, and the categorical readiness to learn measures were cross-tabulated with participation, to determine whether there were important differences in readiness to learn.

The percentages and standard errors of all readiness to learn measures by number of early childhood education activities and household income level are presented in Table D-46 to D-56. An overview of the findings is presented below.

Participation in early childhood education activities at age 3 was linked to some of the language, academic skill, and social competence variables at age 5 for one or more of the four income levels. Children in the middle two household income levels who participated in early childhood education activities had higher receptive vocabulary scores than those who did not participate (Table D-46). No such difference appeared for the lowest and highest income levels. Communication skill score did not vary by participation (Table D-47), but number knowledge scores were higher for children in the highest household income level who did participate in early childhood education activities than for those who did not (Table D-48). No differences were found for children in the other household income levels. Copying and symbol use did not differ according to early childhood education participation at any income level (Table D-49), nor did any of the self-regulation of learning measures (attention score, work effort score, or curiosity, Table D-50 to D-52) or self-control of behaviour (Table D-53). Children in the second lowest household income level who participated in early childhood education activities were rated as higher in cooperative play than those who did not participate (Table D-54). No differences were found for children at other household income levels. No differences appeared between income levels for independence in dressing (Table D-55), or independence in cleanliness (Table D-56). In summary, it was found that within some income levels, participation in early childhood education activities at age 3 was associated with higher scores in some measures of readiness to learn two years later, at age 5.

Readiness to learn at school: looking back to age 3

A series of analyses that looked back in time was conducted in order to determine whether the differences in readiness to learn that were found at age 5 between girls and boys, and between children with different household income levels, were already apparent two years earlier. Eight measures within four of the readiness to learn domains were available for the children when they were 3-year-olds. These included scores for communication skill (within the language and communication skill domain); attention, work effort, and curiosity (within the self-regulation of learning domain); self-control of behaviour (within the self-control of behaviour domain); and cooperative play, independence in dressing, and independence in cleanliness (within the social skill and competence domain). Readiness to learn measures at age 3 were compared between girls and boys and between household income levels. Linear regression analyses for continuous variables, or 3-way cross-tabulation analyses for categorical variables, were used to assess interactions between age 3 measures and demographic variables on the age 5 measures. In the absence of interactions, change between age 3 and age 5 was compared between girls and boys and between income levels, in order to discover whether differences between demographic groups increased, decreased or stayed the same over the preschool years.

The mean scores and percentages at age 3 and the change scores and percentages between age 3 and age 5 are presented in Table D-57 to D-68. An overview of the findings is presented below.

Communication skill score. Girls had higher communication skill scores than boys at age 5 (Table D-5). This difference was already evident at age 3, when girls also scored significantly higher than boys (Table D-57). Girls and boys increased by the same amount over the two year period (Figure 1). These findings indicate that the differences in communication skill score at age 5 had their origins at least two years earlier.

Children at lower household income levels had lower communication skill scores than children at higher household income levels at age 5 (Table D-5). This trend was already apparent at age 3, when the scores for children at the lowest two household income levels were significantly lower than for those at the higher levels (Table D-57). Children in the lowest income category tended to show a somewhat greater increase in communication skill score than those in the other income categories, although these differences were not statistically significant (Figure 1). These findings suggest that income differences in communication skill score among 5-year-olds emerged before the age of 3.

Attention score. Girls scored higher than boys in attention at age 5 (Table D-8), but this difference was not present at age 3, when the scores for girls and boys were similar  (Table D-58). Attention score did not change overall between age 3 and age 5. Over the two-year period girls showed a significantly greater increase in attention score than boys, who in fact declined slightly in mean score (Figure 3). However, the linear regression analysis indicated a significant interaction between sex of the child and attention score at age 3 (Figure24): girls and boys who scored low at age 3 differed more in attention at age 5 than did girls and boys who scored high at age 3. These findings indicate that the attention score differences seen at age 5 between girls and boys emerged after the age of 3, due to an increase in attention on the part of girls, especially a greater increase on the part of girls at the lower end of the attention score distribution at age 3.

At age 5, children at the lowest income level scored lower than those at higher levels in attention (Table D-8). These differences were already apparent and significant at age 3, when the score for children in the lowest income level was significantly lower than the scores for the highest two income levels (Table D-58). Attention score did not change significantly between age 3 and age 5 for any of the income levels (Figure 3). These findings suggest that differences in attention score at age 5 between children at the lowest household income level and other children emerged before the age of 3.

Work effort score. At age 5, no difference was found between girls and boys in work effort score (Table D-9). The situation was the same at age 3, when girls and boys had similar scores (Table D-59). Work effort increased an equivalent amount for girls and boys over the two-year period (Figure 25). These findings suggest that if girls and boys ever differed in this characteristic, the difference had disappeared by age 3.

At age 5, there were no differences in work effort score between children at different household income levels (Table D-9). This was not the case at age 3, when children at the lowest income level scored significantly lower in work effort than those at the second highest income level (Table D-59). Children in the lowest household income level showed the largest increase in work effort score between age 3 and age 5 (Figure 25). These findings suggest that differences in work effort score among household income levels emerged before the age of 3, but that the differences disappeared before the age of 5, possibly due to an increase on the part of children in the lowest household income level.

Curiosity level. At age 5, a higher percentage of boys than girls were reported to be high in curiosity (Table D-10). The situation was the same at age 3, with boys rated higher than girls (Table D-60). Curiosity decreased overall between age 3 and age 5, but curiosity decreased more for girls than for boys over the two-year period (Figure 26). An interaction was found between sex of the child and curiosity level at age 3 (Figure 4 , Table D-61). Girls and boys who were not high in curiosity at age 3 differed less at age 5 than did girls and boys who were high in curiosity at age 3. These findings indicate that differences in curiosity level at age 5 appeared before the age of 3, but that the difference increased over the two-year period, partly as a result of larger declines in curiosity levels on the part of girls, especially girls who were rated high at age 3.

At age 5, there were no differences in curiosity level between children at different household income levels (Table D-10). The situation was the same at age 3, when no differences appeared by income (Figure 26, Table D-60). These findings suggest no link between household income level and curiosity by age 3, and that no stable link developed later.

Self-control of behaviour score. Girls scored higher than boys in self-control of behaviour score at age 5 (Table D-11), but not at age 3 when their scores were about the same (Table D-62). The increase in self-control of behaviour score over the two-year period was significantly greater for girls than for boys (Figure 27). These findings indicate that the self-control of behaviour score differences seen at age 5 between girls and boys emerged after the age of 3, due to an increase on the part of girls.

At age 5, children at different household income levels did not differ in self-control of behaviour (Table D-11), but this was not the case at age 3, when those at the lowest income level scored significantly lower in this variable than those at the highest income level (Table D-62). Self-control of behaviour score increased from age 3 to age 5 for children at all household income levels (Figure 27). As was found earlier for the work effort score, these findings indicate that differences in self-control of behaviour among income levels appeared before the age of 3, but that the differences decreased over the next two years.

Cooperative play. At age 5, no differences appeared in cooperative play between girls and boys (Table D-12), and this situation was also found at age 3 (Table D-63). Cooperative play increased somewhat overall for both sexes, indicating that the similarity between girls and boys existed before age 3, and was stable over the preschool years from age 3 to age 5.

At age 5, children in lower income households were rated lower in cooperative play than those in higher income households (Table D-12). A similar but non-significant pattern appeared at age 3 (Table D-63), and an interaction was found between income level and cooperative play at age 3:  among children who were not high in cooperative play at age 3, there were no income differences in their cooperative play level at age 5 (Figure 28, Table D-64). For those who were high in cooperative play at age 3, more of the higher income children were still high in cooperative play by age 5 than lower income children. These findings indicate that while differences in cooperative play among income groups were small at age 3, the differences increased over the two-year period, partly because more of the higher income than lower income children remained high in cooperative play.

Independence in dressing. A higher percentage of girls than boys were reported to be high in independence in dressing at age 5 (Table D-13). This pattern also appeared at age 3, with more girls than boys being rated as high (Table D-65). Independence in dressing increased overall, with boys increasing more than girls. An interaction was found between sex of the child and independence in dressing at age 3: For those who were not high in independence in dressing at age 3, no difference appeared between girls and boys at age 5, but for those who were high at age 3, more girls than boys remained high at age 5 (Figure 29, Table D-66). These findings suggest that girls were already more independent than boys at age 3, but that the difference decreased over the two-year period, mostly because of increases among those boys who were low in independence at age 3. 

For household income level, no differences appeared in independence in dressing either at age 5 (Table D-13) or at age 3 (Table D-65). These findings indicate that the lack of link between household income level and independence in dressing existed before age 3, and that it remained stable over the two-year period.

Independence in cleanliness. No differences were found between girls and boys in independence in cleanliness at age 5 (Table D-14). This was not the case at age 3, when more girls than boys were rated as high (Table D-67). Independence in cleanliness increased overall, with boys increasing slightly more than girls (Figure 30). An interaction was found between sex of the child and independence in cleanliness at age 3: for those who were not high in independence in cleanliness at age 3, no difference appeared between girls and boys at age 5, but for those who were high at age 3, more girls than boys remained high (Figure 31 , Table D-68). These findings suggest that girls and boys were similar in independence in cleanliness at age 3, but that a difference appeared over the two-year period, because more girls than boys who were rated high in this behaviour at age 3 remained high at age 5.

For household income level, no differences in independence in cleanliness appeared at age 5 or two years earlier at age 3. This suggests that by age 3, children were the same in this behaviour regardless of their household income level, and remained so over the two-year period.

 


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