1. The impact of positive parenting behaviors and maternal depression on the features of young children's home language environments.
- Author
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Treat AE, Sheffield Morris A, Hays-Grudo J, and Williamson AC
- Subjects
- Adult, Child, Child Language, Child, Preschool, Communication, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Infant, Language, Male, Poverty, Young Adult, Depression psychology, Language Development, Maternal Behavior, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers psychology, Parenting
- Abstract
This study investigated the associations between maternal depression when infants were 3 to 11 months old (M = 6 months), and positive parenting behaviors when children were between 12 and 22 months (M = 17 months) and the home language environment assessed when children were 18 to 28 months old (M = 23.5 months) in a sample of 29 low-income mother-child dyads. After controlling for maternal education, only teaching behaviors remained a moderate and significant predictor of adult word counts. Observed teaching behaviors significantly predicted conversational turns and marginally predicted child vocalizations; effects sizes were small. Encouraging behaviors were a small and significant predictor of conversational turns and a marginally significant predictor of adult word counts. Maternal depression was a moderate and significant predictor of children's vocal productivity scores and a small, marginal predictor of conversational turns. These findings have important implications for parenting and children's language outcomes.
- Published
- 2020
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