Numeracy skills in young children as predictors of mathematical competence

As mathematical competence is linked to educational success, professional achievement, and even a country's economic growth, researchers have been interested in early predictors for quite some time. Although there have been numerous studies on domain-specific numerical abilities predicting later mathematical competence in preschool children, research in toddlers is scarce, especially regarding additional influential aspects, such as domain-general cognitive abilities and the children's social background. Using a large-scale dataset, the present study examined predictive effects of numeracy skills in 17-month-olds for later mathematical achievement. We found small, positive effects, even when controlling for child-related variables (i.e., age and sex) and the children's social background (i.e., maternal education and household language). Additionally, we compared results with a domain-general categorization task and found no distinct effect on mathematical competence. The present results are discussed with regard to the specificities of the dataset, as well as implications for future studies on predictors of mathematical competence.