Phonological skills and vocabulary knowledge mediate socioeconomic status effects in predicting reading outcomes for Chinese children.

This study examined the relations among socioeconomic status (SES), early phonological processing, vocabulary, and reading in 262 children from diverse SES backgrounds followed from ages 4 to 9 in Beijing, China. SES contributed to variations in phonological skills and vocabulary in children's early development. Nonetheless, early phonological and vocabulary abilities exerted equally strong and independent mediation of the SES effects on...