Maternal education revisited: Vocabulary growth in English and Spanish from 16 to 30 months of age.
Infant Behav Dev
; 66: 101685, 2022 02.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34971859
ABSTRACT
This paper reports on a cross-language longitudinal study in which we extend previous research on the effects of maternal education on vocabulary growth in Spanish- and English-dominant children at three time points 16 months, 22 months, and 30 months of age. This study addresses recent conflicting evidence regarding the role of maternal education in children's acquisition of Spanish. Participants were 62 English-dominant children, 47 Spanish-dominant children, and their mothers. Growth curve models were constructed separately for English and Spanish vocabulary. Strong growth rate reliability and effect sizes were evinced for vocabulary across samples. As expected, in English-dominant children, maternal education predicted English vocabulary and growth from 16 to 30 months of age. However, in Spanish-dominant children, there was no significant effect of maternal education on vocabulary or growth, although there was a descriptive advantage for children of college-educated mothers at 30 months of age. In conjunction with prior evidence, we conclude that the effect of maternal education on maternal input and child vocabulary does not generalize readily to children whose first language is Spanish. Our findings contribute to a literature that suggests that focusing on maternal beliefs, input, and the home literacy environment are more fruitful approaches in the study of children learning Spanish in the U.S. Further, the importance of maternal beliefs highlights the need to support parent investment in the quantity and quality of input in the home language.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Vocabulário
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Multilinguismo
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
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Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Child
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Female
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Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article