Mothers’ and Fathers’ Literacy Involvement Trajectories 9 to 24 months: Transactional Relations to Child Language

• In Event: Opportunities for learning from picture books and shared reading in monolingual and bilingual environments

Abstract

Introduction. The early years is a time when children build the foundational skills such as language that benefit them through their lives (NASEM, 2016). Multiple factors contribute to the development of children’s language skills in the early years, among which the quality of the home literacy environment (HLE) is particularly important as it is the most proximal to the child (Lorio et al., 2021). Most HLE studies focus on mothers’ engagement in literacy activities (LA) with children (e.g., reading, storytelling). Far fewer studies include fathers whose engagement is uniquely associated with children’s outcomes, over and above the contribution of mothers (Malin et al., 2014). And, few studies consider the fact that HLE may change over the early years depending on children’s language abilities (Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014). Consequently, assessing these developmental changes may be as important to understanding child outcomes as assessing HLE at any one time (Rodriguez & Tamis-LeMonda, 2011).

Research Questions & Hypotheses. Framed within Bronfenbrenner’s (1996) ecological theory, our study addresses these research gaps by asking: (1) How do mothers’ and fathers’ LA change from 9 to 24 months? (2) Are there transactional relations between LA and children’s language skills from 9 to 24 months? Based on previous findings, we expect that LA would change over time and that parents may engage in formal LA more frequently as children age. We also expect cross-lagged positive associations between LA and child language across time.

Study Populations & Methods. Our preliminary analysis included 99 mothers and fathers and their children who have LA data at 9, 18, and 24 months (Table 1). Parents reported the frequency of LA with child. Three LA items (i.e., read to child, sing, tell stories) were rated from 1=Not at all to 6=More than once a day; the other items were rated from 1=Never to 7=Daily and were only measured at 9 and 24 months. Parents also reported demographic information at 9 months. We assessed children’s language skills at 9, 18, and 24 months using PLS-4.

Results. LA data were normalized for repeated measures ANOVA. Mothers and fathers reported reading to child and teaching the alphabet significantly more often (between weekly and twice/month) at 18 and 24 months than at 9 months. Mothers were more likely to sing with infants than toddlers and fathers were more likely to take toddlers than infants to the library. Notably, parents engage their children in various LA frequently as early as 9 months and participation in formal LA increases over time. Cross-lagged model between LA (i.e., read, sing, and tell stories) and child language from 9 to 24 months revealed that LA was stable during children’s first 2 years (Figure 1). We found no significant transactional relations between mothers’ or fathers’ LA and child language across time. Our next step is to examine the trajectories of HLE (LA and child’s interest in LA) and transactional relations with child language from 9 to 30 months in a larger sample using multilevel modeling.

Authors

• Yu Chen, New York University School of Medicine
  Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park

• Jay Fagan, Temple University