Consistently, research has shown that higher levels of maternal education are linked to positive child outcomes; however, few studies have examined whether increases in maternal education after the child is born are a protective or a risk factor for child outcomes. Given a large minority of mothers complete education after having children, understanding the impact of maternal increases in education may be important. We aimed to examine the association between increases in maternal education during the first five years of the child’s life and later child outcomes and explore the mediating role of the home learning environment and positive parenting. Further, we examined the moderating role of baseline education in the association between increases in maternal education and parenting behaviors. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a longitudinal birth cohort study comprising 4898 families, were used. Using structural equation modeling, findings indicated that increases in maternal education were significantly associated with greater child academic skill at age nine (b = 0.04) but not with child externalizing behavior. Increases in maternal education were not linked to home learning environment or positive parenting at age five; however, higher levels of positive parenting and a better-quality home learning environment were associated with more optimal child outcomes. Baseline maternal education did not moderate the association between increases in maternal education and home learning environment and positive parenting. Models accounted for associations with several demographic covariates, including maternal intellectual ability, child effects on parenting behaviors, and continuity of child outcomes. Findings provide limited support for policies that offer support for mothers to complete educational programs that may subsequently foster child academic skills.

研究始终表明，较高水平的母亲教育与积极的儿童成果有关；然而，很少有研究检查是否增加在孩子出生后的母亲教育中，是儿童结局的保护因素或风险因素。鉴于大部分母亲在生完孩子后完成了教育，了解母亲教育增加的影响可能很重要。我们的目的是检查在孩子生命的前五年增加母亲教育与后来孩子的结果之间的关联，并探讨家庭学习环境和积极养育的中介作用。此外，我们研究了基线教育在增加母亲教育和养育行为之间的关联中的调节作用。使用了来自脆弱家庭和儿童福利研究 (FFCWS) 的数据，这是一项包含 4898 个家庭的纵向出生队列研究。使用结构方程建模，b  = 0.04) 但与儿童外化行为无关。母亲教育的增加与家庭学习环境或五岁时的积极养育无关；然而，更高水平的积极养育和更优质的家庭学习环境与更理想的儿童结局相关。基线孕产妇教育并没有缓和孕产妇教育和家庭学习环境的增加与积极养育之间的关联。模型考虑了与几个人口统计协变量的关联，包括母亲的智力、儿童对养育行为的影响以及儿童结果的连续性。调查结果为支持母亲完成教育计划的政策提供了有限的支持，这些计划随后可能会培养孩子的学术技能。