Synthesizing Mixed Evidence on Associations Between Parent Number Talk and SES

• In Event: How and Why are Socioeconomic Status and Young Children’s Math Skills Linked?

Abstract

Parent talk is critical to young children’s development, including mathematics learning. While some debate surrounds the exact size and importance of “word gaps” (Sperry et al., 2019), classic and contemporary studies have repeatedly demonstrated that lower and higher SES homes differ in the total amounts and qualities of parent talk (e.g., Hart & Risley, 1995; Golinkoff et al., 2019; Hindman et al., 2016; Hoff, 2013). Very little of this work, however, has focused on math talk (i.e., the amount and quality of parent talk on early math learning concepts such as numeral identification, cardinality, arithmetic, shapes, spatial relations, measurement, etc.). Tremendous variability has been documented with regard to the quantity and quality of math talk that parents engage in with young children (e.g., Levine et al., 2010). Moreover, there is speculation that this variability contributes to early achievement differences between low and high SES children (Elliot & Bachman, 2018). However, evidence of SES variations in math talk is quite mixed, with multiple studies reporting little to no association between SES and parent talk about numerical concepts, for example (e.g., Lombardi & Dearing, 2020; Ramani et al., 2015). Yet, drawing firm conclusions from the individual studies is difficult given that these rich observational data have generally been drawn from small samples.

To help synthesize the mixed results, we are conducting a mini meta-analysis of associations between parent number talk and two indicators of SES: parent education and family income. The study of parent number talk, and math talk more generally, is quite new compared with studies focused on parent talk more broadly. Yet, in the present study, we bring together data from foundational studies in this area (e.g., Casey et al., 2020; Casey et al., 2018; Gunderson & Levine, 2011; Levine et al., 2010; Lombardi & Dearing, 2020; Ramani et al., 2015; Susperreguy & Davis-Kean, 2016) with new data from multiple samples. Collectively, these data provide a diverse sample of parents of children ranging from 1.5 to 6 years of age with observations of general and domain-specific parent number talk.

We have data from seven studies with a total sample size of 396; of these studies, all seven collected parent education data and six collected data on family income. For associations between SES and total number talk, sample sizes and correlation coefficients are provided in Table 1, along with the meta-analytic correlation estimated following recommendations from Goh, Hall, and Rosenthal (2016). Characteristics of the samples are also briefly described in the table.

The meta-analytic correlations are small in size for education and income, both r = .14. For the presentation, variations by study design will be discussed. In addition, the practical implications of these small effect sizes will be discussed, with a focus on how they inform our understandings of the contextual conditions that give rise to math talk within young children’s homes.

Authors

• Eric Dearing, Boston College
  Presenting Author

• Beth M Casey, Boston College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Pamela Davis-Kean, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah H. Eason, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth A Gunderson, Temple University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan Cohen Levine, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Caitlin S Lombardi, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ariadne Nelson, Boston College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Geetha B. Ramani, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maria Ines Susperreguy, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  Non-Presenting Author