Poster #145 - Mothers’ and Fathers’ Language Input from 6 to 36: Relations to Children’s Kindergarten Achievement

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Mothers’ language input has been linked to more optimal vocabulary and later literacy outcomes for young children (Hoff, 2003; Hart & Risley, 1995; Tamis-LeMonda, Luo, & Song, 2014). Less is known about fathers’ language input and children’s academic outcomes (Tamis-LeMonda, Baumwell, & Cristofaro, 2012). Often, fathers were not included in the earlier studies on parents’ language input because they were not considered the primary caregiver (Hart & Risley, 1995; Hoff, 2003, 2006). Fortunately, as mounting evidence indicates the theoretical and empirical importance of fathers’ interactions with their children, studies have increasingly explored fathers’ role in predicting children’s development (Lamb, 2004; Lamb & Lewis, 2010). The goal of our study was to explore the role of both mothers' and fathers' language to identify language input measures that are related to more optimal academic achievement in school. Few studies had previously examined the relationship between the specific features of both mothers’ and fathers’ early language input (i.e., number of different words, mean length of utterance, and wh- questions) during a shared book experience and children’s kindergarten achievement (i.e., vocabulary, literacy, and math). Using an economically and culturally diverse sample of 567 children, this study examined whether mothers’ and fathers’ number of different words, mean length of utterance, and wh- questions from 6 to 36 months predicted children’s kindergarten achievement. Multiple regression models, examining mothers’ and fathers’ language separately and in combined models, indicated that both mothers’ and fathers’ language input was related with children’s kindergarten achievement, beyond a host of demographic controls. In the combined models, mothers’ mean length of utterance and wh- questions were significantly associated with vocabulary and their mean length of utterance was significantly associated with math outcomes in kindergarten. Fathers’ mean length of utterance and wh- questions were significantly associated with vocabulary, and their wh- questions were significantly associated with math outcomes in kindergarten. Our findings support prior research and suggest mothers’ and fathers’ language input have a positive association with later academic achievement (Cristofaro & Tamis-LeMonda, 2011; Rowe et al., 2017). This finding is important because we controlled for the quality of parenting in the home, suggesting that it is not just good parenting that results in children’s achievement. Our study also adds to the growing research that has emphasized fathers’ role in early development. Like mothers’ language, fathers’ language in the first three years of life also predicted all the way to kindergarten vocabulary and math skills. Thus, this study identifies the unique contribution of fathers’ language to children’s kindergarten achievement.

Authors

• Elizabeth R Reynolds, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Lynne Vernon-Feagans, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mary Bratsch-Hines, UNC-Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author