Poster #32 - Gender Differences in Maternal Spatial Language use With Preschool and Early School age Children.

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Background: As the focus on preparing students for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) increases, so does the importance of understanding what factors influence a child’s ability to succeed in these areas. One recurring finding is the relationship between spatial cognition and STEM success (Humphreys, Lubinski, & Yao, 1993). Notably women are under-represented in STEM programs and perform less well than men on spatial cognition tasks, particularly mental rotation tasks (Harris & Hirsh-Pasek, 2013; Linn & Peterson, 1985; Voyer, et al, 1995). The amount of spatial language children hear correlates with performance on mental rotation tasks (Pruden, et al, 2011) and mothers of 1-3 year olds use significantly more spatial language with boys than girls (Pruden & Levine 2017). However, we do not if this continues once children are in school. This study investigated how mothers’ spatial language differs with boys and girls who have not yet entered school (PreK) and those in their first years of formal education including kindergarten and 1st grade (Kinder+).
Methods: Participants were 40 four to six-year-old children 21 Prek (12 girls) and 19 Kinder+ (11 girls) and their mothers. Dyads were provided colorful magnetic tiles and instructed to play together. After a 10-minute recorded play session, the child completed the Children’s Mental Transformation Task (CMTT). Videos were transcribed and coded for spatial language using CLAN in CHILDES. For each participant, the proportion of unique spatial words was calculated and used for analysis.
Results: A 2 (schooling: PreK vs Kindergarten+) X 2 (gender: male vs female) ANOVA comparing mother’s spatial words revealed an interaction between schooling and gender (F(1, 36)=4.296, p=0.05). Subsequent t-tests clarified that mothers of PreK children used significantly more spatial language with boys than girls, t(19)=-1.729, p=0.05, one-tailed. For mothers with children in school the pattern reversed, though the difference did not reach significance, t(17)=1.224, p=.12.
To investigate the reasons for and implications of these findings we studied the children’s spatial words and mental rotation scores. A 2 (schooling) X 2 (gender) ANOVA comparing children’s spatial words revealed an interaction of age and gender, F(1, 36)=6.164, p=0.02. Similar to maternal language, follow-up t tests showed in PreK boys used more spatial language than girls (t(19)= -2.15, p=0.04), but not in Kinder+, t(17) = 1.344, p=0.20. A 2 (schooling) X 2 (gender) ANOVA comparing CMTT scores revealed no interactions, but a main effect of gender F(1, 36)=4.69, p=0.04 and a main effect of schooling, F(1, 36)=28.55, p<0.01 with older children outperforming younger children and boys outperforming girls.
Conclusions: This study is the first to show that the previously reported tendency of mothers to use more spatial language with boys than girls disappears when the children are in kindergarten and first grade. Though the reason for this shift is unclear, similar changes in children’s patterns of spatial language use suggest it might be child-driven. Interestingly, in both age groups boys outperformed girls on the spatial task highlighting the need to better understand the long-term influence of mother’s early spatial language.

Authors

• Yvonne K Ralph, University of Texas at Dallas
  Presenting Author

• Mandy J Maguire, University of Texas at Dallas
  Non-Presenting Author