TY - JOUR
T1 - Parenting Supports for Early Vocabulary Development
T2 - Specific Effects of Sensitivity and Stimulation through Infancy
AU - Vallotton, Claire D.
AU - Mastergeorge, Ann
AU - Foster, Tricia
AU - Decker, Kalli B.
AU - Ayoub, Catherine
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the children and families who participated in this study as well as members of the Early Head Start Consortium. Research was supported by a grant from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), grant number 90YR0008, and by a grant from NICHD, grant number 1 F32 HD050040-01. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, or the National Institute of Health. The findings reported here are based on research conducted as part of the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project funded by the ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under contract 105-95-1936 to Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ, and Columbia University's Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, in conjunction with the Early Head Start Research Consortium.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS)
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Growing recognition of disparities in early childhood language environments prompts examination of parent–child interactions, which support vocabulary. Research links parental sensitivity and cognitive stimulation to child language, but has not explicitly contrasted their effects, nor examined how effects may change over time. We examined maternal sensitivity and stimulation throughout infancy using two observational methods—ratings of parents’ interaction qualities and coding of discrete parenting behaviors—to assess the relative importance of these qualities to child vocabulary over time and determine whether mothers make related changes in response to children's development. Participants were 146 infants and mothers, assessed when infants were 14, 24, and 36 months. At 14 months, sensitivity had a stronger effect on vocabulary than did stimulation, but the effect of stimulation grew throughout toddlerhood. Mothers’ cognitive stimulation grew over time, whereas sensitivity remained stable. While discrete parenting behaviors changed with child age, there was no evidence of trade-offs between sensitive and stimulating behaviors, and no evidence that sensitivity moderated the effect of stimulation on child vocabulary. Findings demonstrate specificity of timing in the link between parenting qualities and child vocabulary, which could inform early parent interventions, and support a reconceptualization of the nature and measurement of parental sensitivity.
AB - Growing recognition of disparities in early childhood language environments prompts examination of parent–child interactions, which support vocabulary. Research links parental sensitivity and cognitive stimulation to child language, but has not explicitly contrasted their effects, nor examined how effects may change over time. We examined maternal sensitivity and stimulation throughout infancy using two observational methods—ratings of parents’ interaction qualities and coding of discrete parenting behaviors—to assess the relative importance of these qualities to child vocabulary over time and determine whether mothers make related changes in response to children's development. Participants were 146 infants and mothers, assessed when infants were 14, 24, and 36 months. At 14 months, sensitivity had a stronger effect on vocabulary than did stimulation, but the effect of stimulation grew throughout toddlerhood. Mothers’ cognitive stimulation grew over time, whereas sensitivity remained stable. While discrete parenting behaviors changed with child age, there was no evidence of trade-offs between sensitive and stimulating behaviors, and no evidence that sensitivity moderated the effect of stimulation on child vocabulary. Findings demonstrate specificity of timing in the link between parenting qualities and child vocabulary, which could inform early parent interventions, and support a reconceptualization of the nature and measurement of parental sensitivity.
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U2 - 10.1111/infa.12147
DO - 10.1111/infa.12147
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84962647087
SN - 1525-0008
VL - 22
SP - 78
EP - 107
JO - Infancy
JF - Infancy
IS - 1
ER -