ERIC Number: EJ1249866
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-May
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Reciprocal Effects of Reading and Mathematics? Beyond the Cross-Lagged Panel Model
Bailey, Drew H.; Oh, Yoonkyung; Farkas, George; Morgan, Paul; Hillemeier, Marianne
Developmental Psychology, v56 n5 p912-921 May 2020
Prior nonexperimental studies have been used to conclude that children's reading and mathematics achievement bidirectionally influence each other over time, with strong paths from (a) early reading to later mathematics and (b) early mathematics to later reading. In the most influential study on the topic, the early math-to-later-reading path was reported to be stronger than the early reading-to-later-math path (Duncan et al., 2007). Yet prior estimates may be confounded by stable environmental and personal factors influencing both reading and mathematics achievement. We reexamined the bidirectional relations between reading and mathematics achievement using both traditional models and extensions intended to account for unmeasured confounding. Results based on a large nationally representative sample of children from kindergarten to 3rd grade (N = 9,612) indicated that the estimated effects between reading and mathematics achievement differ substantially after accounting for the confounding effects of stable unmeasured factors. In these models, autoregressive and cross-lagged paths were substantially reduced. The finding that early mathematics predicts later reading more strongly than early reading predicts later math disappears and sometimes reverses, suggesting that larger paths from math to reading than from reading to math in previous related analyses are not causally informative. Stability in early mathematics and reading achievement resulted from substantially overlapping time invariant factors that correlate above 0.90.
Descriptors: Reading Achievement, Mathematics Achievement, Correlation, Primary Education, Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Models, Elementary School Students
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; Primary Education; Kindergarten; Grade 1; Grade 2; Grade 3
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1761012