A reexamination of the association between HOME scores and income

Abstract

This study, which represents another look at the relationship between the HOME Inventory and income, uses data from the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), a multisite, longitudinal study of low-birth-weight preterm infants. Two versions of the HOME Inventory were used: The Infant/Toddler (IT-HOME), at 12 months of age, and the Early Childhood (EC-HOME), at 36 months of age. Predictor variables were income, ethnicity, maternal education, parity, gestational age, marital status, maternal age, and site. HOME scores were positively correlated with income. However, after controlling for the other variables in the models, the portion of the variance in HOME scores uniquely explained by income was quite low (IT-HOME, 5.1%; EC-HOME, 4.2%). Finally, the relationship between HOME scores and four child characteristics (cognitive development, growth, maladaptive behavior, and social competence) measured when the child was 36 months old were investigated using correlation. The results indicated that the quality of the home environment, as measured by the HOME Inventory, is related to children's development.