Parental beliefs and parenting practices in early childhood are fundamental for the development of preschoolers’ school readiness and executive functions. This study examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity, maternal self-competence, parental cognitive stimulation, and maternal supportive discipline as predictors of five-year-old preschoolers’ school readiness and executive function abilities in 70 families of low-SES homes with a Chilean majority or indigenous Mapuche minority background in Chile. Additionally, the mediating role of parental beliefs and parenting practices between SES and school readiness or executive functioning respectively was investigated as suggested by the Family Stress Model. Results show that maternal supportive discipline predicted school readiness above and beyond SES and ethnicity. Furthermore, maternal supportive discipline mediated the relation between SES and school readiness, whereby higher SES positively affected maternal supportive discipline, which in turn had a favorable effect on school readiness. All other associations were non-significant. The outcomes highlight that parental involvement of culturally diverse families from low-SES backgrounds is important for children's cognitive development. School readiness of Chilean preschoolers from low-SES homes might possibly be improved by enhancing maternal sensitivity and positive behavioral control strategies. These parenting skills have the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of low-SES environments to some extent. The findings of this study inform interventions integrated into early childhood education programs.

幼儿时期的父母信念和养育方式对于学龄前儿童的入学准备和执行功能的发展至关重要。本研究探讨了社会经济地位 (SES)、种族、母亲的自我能力、父母的认知刺激和母亲的支持纪律作为 70 个低 SES 家庭中 5 岁学龄前儿童的入学准备和执行功能能力的预测因子的作用智利占多数或土著马普切少数民族背景的家庭。此外，根据家庭压力模型的建议，分别调查了父母信念和养育实践在 SES 与入学准备或执行功能之间的中介作用。结果表明，母亲支持性纪律预测的入学准备程度超出了 SES 和种族。此外，母亲支持性纪律在社会经济地位与入学准备之间的关系中起中介作用，由此较高的社会经济地位对母亲支持性纪律产生积极影响，进而对入学准备产生有利影响。所有其他关联都不显着。结果强调，来自低社会经济地位背景的文化多样化家庭的父母参与对儿童的认知发展很重要。来自低社会经济地位家庭的智利学龄前儿童的入学准备可能可以通过提高母亲的敏感性和积极的行为控制策略来提高。这些育儿技巧有可能在一定程度上减轻低社会经济地位环境的不利影响。这项研究的结果为纳入幼儿教育计划的干预措施提供了信息。