Effects of Child Development Accounts on Parent-Child Educational Engagement and Children's Hope

Background and Objective: Theory and empirical research have elucidated various pathways through which asset building for children can positively influence aspects of parental involvement in their children's education and children's future orientation. Enhanced assets for children's future development provide families with economic resources to foster a more enriching home learning environment and promote meaningful parent-child interactions. Moreover, increased assets enable families to adopt a future-oriented perspective, fostering goal-directed behavior and long-term developmental planning, which may bolster children's hope and well-being. Our previous investigations have demonstrated that Child Development Accounts (CDAs) yield favorable outcomes in terms of positive parenting practices and social-emotional development for children at the age of four. This study explores the effects of CDAs on parent-child educational engagement and children’s hope, around the age of 14, shedding light on the potential role of CDAs in nurturing positive developmental trajectories.

Methods: In Wave 3 of a longitudinal CDA policy experiment, we assessed parent-child engagement in education in nine items asking respondents about the frequency of their discussions with their children regarding school matters, academic progress, and future goals. The internal consistency of these items was considered acceptable (Cronbach's Alpha = .76). A three-item scale of children's hope asked respondents about children’s broad expectations of their futures, and the scale demonstrates acceptable internal consistency (0.77). Controlling baseline demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, we assessed the CDA impacts on these two outcomes in linear regression models. We applied Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) in supplemental analyses.

Results: Among the Wave 3 respondents of the CDA experiment, we found no significant differences between treatment and control groups in the majority of baseline demographic and socioeconomic variables. For the pre-COVID sample, the treatment status variable has a statistically significant positive coefficient of 0.64 to predict parent-child educational engagement and a statistically significant positive coefficient of 0.28 to predict children’s hope. After including parent-child educational engagement as an independent variable to predict children’s hope, the coefficient for the treatment status reduces to 0.06 but remains statistically significant.