Home environment of 3 year-old Chilean children: Maternal and paternal language and cognitive stimulation

• In Event: Parenting and children´s socialization context in Chile: evidence on attachment, cognitive stimulation, and family functioning

Abstract

Introduction. The quality of children´s home environment is an important predictor of their development (e.g., NICHD, 2008). Even though this association may be universal, the specific home environment characteristics may vary by culture or context (Rogoff, 2003). Data coming from non-WEIRD countries are still limited. This study provides an in-depth description of the linguistic and cognitive stimulating context of a group of low-income three-year-old Chilean children. We examined the differential and complementary contribution of mothers and fathers to child development and how their personal characteristics relate to the quality of the home environment.
Aims. To examine the: 1) type and frequency of cognitive stimulating activities displayed by mothers and fathers; 2) Type and quality of parents´ linguistic input with their children; 3) Similarities and differences between mothers and fathers in the aforementioned variables; and 4) association between parental characteristics and parental stimulation practices and linguistic input.
Study population. Our sample consisted of 115 low-income families (mother, father, and their 3-year-old children).
Methods. Parent- child dyads were videotaped in 10 minutes free play sessions. Videotapes were transcribed and reliably coded using the CHAT conventions of the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES, MacWhinney, 2000). Parents´ quantity of input (number and mean length of utterances, number of words), diversity of vocabulary (word types) and number of wh-words were obtained using the CLAN program. Parents also completed a questionnaire on parental practices (items in table 1) in a Likert scale from never (0) to more than once a day (5), depressive symptoms (CES-D; Eaton, et al., 2004) and parental stress (PSS; Berry & Jones, 1995).
Results.
Preliminary results (n=66) of parental type and frequency of cognitive stimulating activities are shown in Table 1, and type and quality of language input are presented in Table 2.
Results show the majority of fathers and mothers sing songs and play with their children on an everyday basis. Nevertheless, they read books and tell stories with their children with a much less frequency (see Table 1).
We found that mothers talk more to their children (Mwordsmothers=519.24,Mwordsfathers=469.47; Mutterancesmothers=146.97,Mutterancesfathers=126.70 ) and use more diverse words than fathers (Mmothers=133.05, Mfathers=119.29). No differences were observed in the amount of wh-words used by parents.
Fathers with higher levels of education reported higher frequency of stimulation practices. Higher paternal stress was found to be related to higher number of wh-words (r=.34*) and less frequency of play with toys (r=-.24*). Fathers with higher levels of depressive symptoms also showed lower frequency of telling stories (r=-.31*).
For mothers, higher levels of maternal stress were associated with less frequency of imaginary play (r=-.27*).
For mothers and fathers, higher income was associated to higher amount of linguistic input (rmothers=.28*,rfathers=.36**), mean length utterances (rmothers=.30*,rfathers=.32*), and diversity of words (rmothers=.26*,rfathers=.47***).
Implications for early intervention to promote high quality home environments for Chilean children are discussed.

Authors

• Daniela Aldoney, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)
  Presenting Author

• Fernanda Prieto, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)
  Non-Presenting Author