Relationship between Reading and Socioeconomic Level in Argentine Children

Abstract

The aim of this work was to provide empirical data about reading performance in elementary school children from public and private schools in Mar del Plata, Argentina, considering the differences in their socioeconomic status (SES). The sample consisted of 227 1st and 3rd graders (male and female). In order to assess reading performance, we administered 10 scales from the Child Neuropsychological Assessment Set —known by the acronym ENI in Spanish—, four of them related to decoding and six related to comprehension. To assess the participants´ SES, we considered the type of school (public or private) they go to, and we requested information about social class, socio-occupational status of the head of household, parents’ educational level and current occupational status of the head of household. Our results confirm that reading performance varies with type of school and SES, as students that go to a public school and come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds underperformed in almost all the tests. We also found that differences in lexical access tasks are reduced during schooling. To conclude, we insist in the early schooling of children that come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, in order to mitigate the deficits caused by a weak reading stimulation and a poor literacy environment.