Children with learning disabilities represent the largest category of students served within special education systems in schools, and are at increased risk for academic and psychosocial problems in comparison to peers without learning disabilities. While much of clinical practice and research focus has been on academic interventions, understanding other risk and protective factors that hinder or promote academic and psychosocial development in children with and without learning disabilities is critical to inform other points of intervention. More specifically, parenting behavior in early childhood including, parent depression and parent school involvement, may hinder or promote outcomes for children with learning disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine whether parent depression, a risk factor, and parent school involvement, a protective factor, predicted academic and psychosocial outcomes in children with subtypes of learning disabilities (i.e., reading disability, math disability, co-morbid reading and math disability) differentially as compared to children without learning disabilities at two time points in elementary school, kindergarten and fifth grade. Primary analyses used multi-sample Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to evaluate the effects of parent depression and parent school involvement on math and reading academic achievement and psychosocial behavior at kindergarten, as well as on psychosocial behavior in fifth grade. Additionally, the long-term effects of academic achievement and psychosocial behavior in kindergarten on these outcomes in fifth grade were also examined. Data was drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) kindergarten and fifth grade data collection waves. The final study sample consisted of approximately 10,630 children. Results indicated that parent depression did not significantly predict parent school involvement, however direct effects of parent depression on kindergarten reading achievement and direct effects of parent school involvement on kindergarten outcomes were noted for children with and without learning disabilities. Additionally, complex relations between kindergarten and fifth grade academic and psychosocial outcomes arose. Finally, effects of gender, age, race, and socio-economic status were examined and significantly influenced both kindergarten and fifth grade outcomes. Findings point to the importance of promoting parent school involvement as a means to improve outcomes for children with and without learning disabilities, as well as the importance of promoting early academic achievement and psychosocial development.
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