The Home Math Environment (HME) refers to the everyday activities through which caregivers support children’s early mathematical development. Prior research has conceptualized the HME as multidimensional, yet studies differ in which factors they identify and the items they include. While numeracy and spatial activities have been structurally modeled, patterning activities have rarely been included despite their role in early math. The present study is a secondary analysis of publicly available data from 913 caregivers of preschool-aged children (ages 2-6) drawn from the Early Home Learning Environment (EHLE) dataset. Caregivers self-reported on 60 math-related activities classified into four subdomains: direct numeracy, indirect numeracy, spatial reasoning, and patterning. Competing models were estimated using confirmatory factor analysis. Although none demonstrated adequate global fit, bifactor models consistently outperformed one-factor and correlated-factor models. Findings highlight the need to refine items and better conceptualize the HME.
Samuel Gbolo (Thu,) studied this question.