Associations between child home language, gender, bilingualism and school readiness: A population-based study

Guhn, Martin; Milbrath, Constance; Hertzman, Clyde

doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.11.003

Cited by 35 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Neighbourhoods where there was discordant-higher vulnerability in language and cognitive development and communication skills and general knowledge were characterized by high immigrant concentration. These findings confirm what has been observed elsewhere; some studies have shown young immigrant children to have weaker language and communication skills compared to their non-immigrant peers [31,61]. Depending on country of origin, children's age at migration, and parents' fluency in an official language, living in a neighbourhood with high immigrant concentration may reduce children's contact with adults fluent in an official language.…”

Section: Ethnic Homogeneity and Immigrant Concentration Associated Wisupporting

confidence: 88%

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Immigrant and ethnic neighbourhood concentration and reduced child developmental vulnerability

McRae

Muhajarine

Janus

et al. 2020

IJPDS

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IntroductionStudies have consistently demonstrated a gradient between median neighbourhood income and child developmental outcomes. By investigating statistical outliers—neighbourhoods with children exhibiting less or more developmental vulnerability than that predicted by median neighbourhood income—there is an opportunity to identify other neighbourhood characteristics that may be enhancing or impeding early childhood development. ObjectiveTesting a variety of neighbourhood factors, including immigrant or ethnic concentration and characteristics of structural disadvantage (proportion of social assistance recipients, homes in need of major repair, residents with high school education only, lone parent families, and residents moving in the last year) we sought to identify factors associated with more or less developmental vulnerability than that predicted by median neighbourhood income, for young children. MethodsFor this cross-sectional study we used validated Early Development Instrument (EDI) data (2003-2013) linked to demographic and socioeconomic Census and Tax Filer data for 98.3% of Canadian neighbourhoods (n=2,023). The purpose of the instrument is to report, at a population-level, children’s school readiness. Children’s developmental vulnerability was assessed in five domains (physical health and well-being, emotional maturity, social competence, language and cognitive development, and communication and general knowledge) in relation to the 10th percentile from a national normative sample. Levels of children’s neighbourhood vulnerability were determined per domain, as percent of children vulnerable at a given domain. Neighbourhoods were grouped into three cohorts, those having lower than predicted, as predicted, or higher than predicted children’s vulnerability according to neighbourhood median income. Using multivariable binary logistic regression we modelled the association between select neighbourhood characteristics and neighbourhoods with lower or higher than predicted vulnerability per domain, compared to neighbourhoods with predicted vulnerability. This allowed us to determine neighbourhood characteristics associated with better or worse child developmental outcomes, at a neighbourhood-level, than that predicted by income. ResultsIn neighbourhoods with less child developmental vulnerability than that predicted by income, high or low immigrant concentration and ethnic homogeneity was associated with less vulnerability in physical (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.66, 95% CI: 1.43, 1.94), social (aOR 1.30, 95% CI: 1.11, 1.51), and communication domains (aOR 1.24, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.47) compared to neighbourhoods with vulnerability concordant with income. Neighbourhood ethnic homogeneity was consistently associated with less developmental vulnerability than predicted by income across all developmental domains. Neighbourhood-level structural disadvantage was strongly associated with child developmental vulnerability beyond that predicted by median neighbourhood income. ConclusionCanadian neighbourhoods demonstrating less child developmental vulnerability than that predicted by income have greater ethnic and ethnic-immigrant homogeneity than neighbourhoods with child developmental vulnerability concordant with income. Neighbourhood social cohesion and cultural identity may be contributing factors. Neighbourhood structural disadvantage is associated with poorer early childhood development, over and above that predicted by neighbourhood income. Neighbourhood-level policy and programming should address income and non-income related barriers to healthy child development.

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Section: Ethnic Homogeneity and Immigrant Concentration Associated Wisupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The purpose of the instrument is to report, at a population-level, children's school readiness [27]. The instrument's validity and reliability has been consistently demonstrated among different groups of children [28][29][30][31] including those with English-as-a-Second-Language [32].…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigrant and ethnic neighbourhood concentration and reduced child developmental vulnerability

McRae

Muhajarine

Janus

et al. 2020

IJPDS

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“…This supports the view of family and home as specific, ubiquitous, social constructs, not taking into account individuality within the home or family. Frequently, the terms “home language” and “family language” are used in direct juxtaposition to “school language” (Guhn, Milbrath, & Hertzman, 2016), establishing the idea that each context is distinctively associated with a single, specific language. In reality, many families communicate in more than one language on a daily basis, arguably sharing multiple “home languages,” one of which may also be the societal (or “school”) language.…”

Section: Family Language Home Language or Heritage Language?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Great Aunt Edna’s Vase: Metaphor Use in Working With Heritage Language Families

Little

2019

The Family Journal

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This article explores the use of a particular metaphor-Great Aunt Edna's Vaseas a means to facilitating multilingual families in contextualizing and engaging with complex emotional connections as linked to language, identity, and belonging. Building from the premise that language is linked to the construction of identity, but that individual family members will have different views and opinions on the heritage language within this context, the article highlights the use of metaphors in family work, before introducing the metaphor of Great Aunt Edna's Vase and situating it in relevant literature around language, heritage, and identity. The concepts introduced add to the existing body of literature in addressing the growing need for work specifically aimed at multilingual families, in a globally ever-morediverse society, highlighting the links between language and well-being, and making a contribution to the global knowledge necessary for practitioners and families to explore these links successfully.

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“…Later work used provincial data or samples of national data to examine the validity of the EDI as a common tool across jurisdictions for studying children's developmental trajectories and social and educational outcomes [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. More recently, longitudinal data linkage studies have used the EDI to predict vulnerabilities in language and cognitive development [28][29][30], examine the association between child developmental health at kindergarten and later academic achievement [31][32][33], and analyze how physical and social settings (i.e., neighbourhoods) are associated with early child development [6,[34][35][36][37]. A regularly updated bibliography of published works including EDI analyses is available at: https://edi.offordcentre.com/ resources/bibliography-of-the-edi/.…”

Section: Research Using the Cannecd Database Peer-reviewed Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pan-Canadian Data Resource for Monitoring Child Developmental Health: The Canadian Neighbourhoods Early Child Development (CanNECD) Database

Janus

Enns

Forer

et al. 2018

IJPDS

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The Canadian Neighbourhoods Early Child Development (CanNECD) database is a unique resource for research on child developmental health and well-being within the socioeconomic and cultural context of Canadian neighbourhoods. This paper describes the CanNECD database and highlights its potential for advancing research at the intersection of child development, social determinants of health, and neighborhood effects. The CanNECD database contains Pan-Canadian population-level child developmental health data collected through regional implementation of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), geo-coded information on residential neighbourhoods covering all of Canada, and socioeconomic and demographic variables from the Canada Census and Income Taxfiler database. The data are de-identified but linkable across datasets through use of common numeric sequences. The nearly 800,000 records spanning 2003-2014 and representing all Canadian provinces and territories (with the exception of Nunavut) are compiled in a secure electronic collection system at the Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Early studies using the EDI demonstrated its utility as a tool for assessing child developmental health at a population level, and its potential for both community-level and large-scale monitoring of child populations. Research using the CanNECD database is now examining to what extent social determinants and the steepness of the social gradients of developmental health differ between geographical jurisdictions and between different sub-populations. We are also working to identify outlier neighbourhoods in which EDI scores are substantially higher or lower than predicted by a neighbourhood’s demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and exploring other potentially important determinants of children’s developmental health. Finally, we are examining the extent to which change-over-time in aggregate EDI scores vary geographically, and how well it coincides with changes in socioeconomic factors. Thus, the CanNECD database offers the opportunity for research that will inform national policies and strategies on child developmental health.

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Associations between child home language, gender, bilingualism and school readiness: A population-based study

Cited by 35 publications

References 109 publications

Immigrant and ethnic neighbourhood concentration and reduced child developmental vulnerability

Immigrant and ethnic neighbourhood concentration and reduced child developmental vulnerability

Great Aunt Edna’s Vase: Metaphor Use in Working With Heritage Language Families

A Pan-Canadian Data Resource for Monitoring Child Developmental Health: The Canadian Neighbourhoods Early Child Development (CanNECD) Database

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