Early Childhood Research Quarterly 28 (2013) 509–519 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Early Childhood Research Quarterly Maternal psychological functioning and children’s school readiness: The mediating role of home environments for African American children Claire E. Baker ∗ , Iheoma U. Iruka University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 3 April 2012 Received in revised form 23 January 2013 Accepted 21 February 2013 Keywords: Depression Parenting stress Cultural socialization School readiness African American ECLS-K a b s t r a c t Decades of educational research has documented an achievement gap in kindergarten reading and math achievement between African American children and their European American counterparts. Research has also shown that specific parenting practices (e.g., home literacy involvement) have the potential to narrow school readiness gaps by at least half. The current study examined whether and how maternal depression and parenting stress may influence specific parenting practices, as well as whether maternal warmth, home learning stimulation and cultural socialization mediated the relation between maternal depression, parenting stress, and children’s kindergarten reading and math achievement. Path analyses revealed a direct negative effect of maternal depression and parenting stress on maternal warmth, home learning stimulation, and cultural socialization. Home learning stimulation emerged as an important mediator between maternal parenting stress and math achievement. Further, maternal warmth mediated the relation between maternal depression and reading achievement. Implications for early childhood research, practice and policy are discussed. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. A successful transition to kindergarten can set the stage for enhanced high school performance (Pianta, Cox, & Snow, 2007; Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000). In fact, research has demonstrated that kindergarten reading and math skills are the most salient pre- dictors of high school achievement and success (Duncan et al., 2007; Rouse & Fantuzzo, 2009). Early childhood studies have shown that the mother–child relationship and proximal processes of parenting account for a significant amount of variance in children’s reading and math skills in kindergarten (Brooks-Gunn & Markman, 2005; Hill, 2001). Of particular interest to researchers and policy makers are the gaps in reading and mathematics achievement demon- strated by many African American children at kindergarten entry (Haskins & Rouse, 2005). This is especially important given that early gaps in achievement tend to increase over time (Alexander, Entwisle, & Olson, 2001) and poor performance in kindergarten forecasts poorer performance throughout the academic and life trajectory (Alexander, Entwisle, & Dauber, 1993; Baydar, Brooks- Gunn, Furstenberg, 1993; Duncan et al., 2007; Gutman, Sameroff, & Cole, 2003). Parenting including the mother–child relationship and quality of the home environment are salient predictors of African Ameri- can children’s school readiness (Baker, Cameron, Rimm-Kaufman, & Grissmer, 2012). Bronfenbrenner’s (1986) ecological theory argues that warm, cognitively stimulating home environments set the ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 9198435099. E-mail address: claire.baker@unc.edu (C.E. Baker). stage for optimal academic achievement. Research on early parent- ing and child development in mostly white, middle class samples has established that specific home-based parenting practices (e.g., parent–child reading) along with the emotional climate of homes (e.g., maternal depression and parenting stress) have a lasting impact on children’s development and preparation for school (Cabrera, Beeghly, & Eisenberg, 2012; Downer & Pianta, 2006). The few specific studies that have focused exclusively on African Amer- ican families have found that warm, cognitively stimulating home environments are critically important for building a strong foun- dation for early school success (Hill, Mann, & Fitzgerald, 2011). Further, there is emerging evidence that cultural socialization prac- tices are also important features of parenting in African American families. Research has shown that mothers who share information about their ethnicity, race, and cultural heritage have children with better academic skills than mothers who do not engage in cul- tural socialization (Coard, Foy-Watson, Zimmer, & Wallace, 2007; Hale-Benson, 1990; Hill et al., 2011; O’Brien-Caughy, O’Campo, Randolph, & Nickerson, 2002). What is less well understood is whether African American mothers’ psychological functioning (e.g., depression and parenting stress) is related to the likelihood that mothers will engage in warm interactions (e.g., hugs and kisses), cognitive stimulation (e.g., shared book reading) and cultural socialization (e.g., discussing cultural heritage) in their homes. Even less is known about these associations among African Amer- ican mothers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds because much of the previous research with African American families has focused on low-income samples (Fantuzzo, McWayne, Perry, 0885-2006/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.02.004