Poster #67 - Acceptance as a mediator of the relations between socioeconomic status and children's home language environment

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

The current study examined the indirect links between socioeconomic status (SES) and young children’s home language environment and expressive language, through the supports and opportunities available in the home. Through the lens of the emergentist coalition model, a wider range of cues from family members becomes crucial to language acquisition as children grow. However, past research has shown that children and families of lower-SES homes tend to have less talk and lower quality talk (e.g., Daneri et al., 2018; Lecheile et al., 2020; Merz et al., 2020). The purpose of the current study was to help identify supports and opportunities in the home that could be strengthened for lower-SES families.

In total, 269 infant-primary caregiver dyads participated in this study (M age = 17.23 months, SD = 3.74 months; 136 boys, 113 girls, 20 missing gender) across a diverse sampling of families (9% Black, 19% Latinx, 2% Asian; 45% income below $50,000) from a large mountain west city. SES was captured using a standardized composite score of both parents’ reported education and income reported when the child was 18 months old. The quality of the home environment was assessed using the Infant Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment ( = .89; subscales: responsivity to the child, acceptance of the child, organization of the home, learning materials available, involvement with the child, variety in daily stimulation) when the children were 18 and 30 months (IT-HOME; Caldwell & Bradley, 1984). To measure the home language environment of the child and expressive language of the child, the Language Environment Analysis System (LENA Research Foundation, 2012) was used in the home when the children were 18 and 30 months old (scores: number of adult words spoken, conversational turns, number of child vocalizations, child automatic vocalization assessment [AVA; complexity in vocal sound distribution], child vocal productivity).

Overall, lower SES scores at 18 months were concurrently and longitudinally associated with fewer adult words spoken in the home, fewer conversational turns, decreased number of child vocalizations, and decreased complexity in children’s vocal sound distribution (i.e., AVA scores). Acceptance of the child in the home mediated the link between SES and the number of adult words, child vocalizations, and children’s AVA scores (see Table 1 and Figure 1). Homes higher in acceptance avoid harsh punishment, restrictions, criticism, and hostility, and provide opportunities for exploration. Higher SES was also linked with greater responsivity, organization, the amount of learning materials available to the child, involvement, and variety, these did not mediate the relation between SES and the language environment or the children’s expressive language. Lower SES may impact parents’ ability to engage in sensitive parenting skills and positive parenting techniques, which, in turn, may affect the language input children receive. Restrictive and hostile parenting techniques may be limiting opportunities for the parent to provide their children with greater and more diverse language input. In line with the Family Stress Model, these results suggest that lower-SES homes need greater support in providing higher levels of acceptance in the home.

Authors

• Vanessa R Rainey, University of West Florida
  Presenting Author

• Brandon Neil Clifford, Arizona State University

• Laura A Stockdale

• Natalie D. Eggum, Arizona State University