Language Disparities Related to Maternal Education Emerge by Two Years in a Low-Income Sample

Abstract

Objectives-Young children living in low-income households experience disparities in language development compared to their advantaged peers, with large differences in language skill by kindergarten entry. In this study, we sought to determine whether there were disparities in early language trajectories within a low-income sample of children from 9 -36 months as a function of maternal education. We hypothesized that children with more highly educated mothers would show accelerated language trajectories compared to children with less educated mothers.Methods-Using observational data collected from a longitudinal birth-cohort sample of 192 low-income mother-infant dyads in Ohio from 2014 to 2018, children's language skills were assessed at three time-points (ages 9-13 months, 20-24 months, and 32-36 months). Multi-level growth curve models were used to examine early language trajectories through three years of age as a function of maternal education.Results-Multilevel growth curve models showed distinct language trajectories: young lowincome children have significantly better language skills at 15 months if their mother had a college education compared to not, and this gap remained significant to almost three years of age.Conclusion-Among young low-income children, disparities emerge in early language trajectories that differentiate children with less-versus more-educated mothers. Given that these disparities are apparent near the child's first birthday, it is necessary that pediatric care providers monitor children's early language trajectories and guide families to resources when lags are apparent. Keywords language; early childhood; developmental disparities; poverty; maternal education Terms of use and reuse: academic research for non-commercial purposes, see here for full terms. https://www.springer.com/aamterms-v1

Early social communication development in infants with autism spectrum disorder

“…Maternal education has been shown to covary significantly with income and race (Harding et al, 2015) and when income, race, and maternal education were are all included as covariates, race and income were not significant. Therefore, maternal education was retained in final statistical models as a proxy for SESrelated health inequalities (Généreux et al, 2008) and to account for the documented association between maternal education and child language (e.g., Justice et al, 2020;Letts et al, 2013).…”

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“…Los hijos de madres con niveles educativos superiores, en promedio, mostraron una tendencia a producir un mayor número de palabras y frases ligeramente más extensas que los niños cuyas madres tenían, como máximo, 12 años de escolaridad. Estos resultados sugieren, en línea con otros estudios realizados con el CDI (Arriaga et al, 1998;Andonova, 2015;Cadime et al, 2018;Jackson Maldonado et al, 2012) y con medidas de evaluación directa (Rowe, 2012;Fernald et al, 2013;Justice et al, 2020), un vínculo entre ciertas características distales del contexto, como la educación materna, y el desarrollo del lenguaje temprano, probablemente a través de su influencia sobre la calidad del entorno lingüístico del niño (Pace et al, 2016;Sultana et al, 2020). Sin embargo, es probable que el reducido tamaño del efecto encontrado en este estudio se relacione con la escasa variabilidad de la presente muestra, mayormente sesgada hacia madres de estudios superiores y de nivel socioeconómico medio a medio alto.…”

“…En la literatura especializada existe un amplio consenso en conside-rar el nivel educativo materno como el indicador del nivel socioeconómico más fuertemente asociado a los resultados lingüísticos en los niños. Son numerosos los estudios que ponen en evidencia la fuerza de dichas relaciones (Sultana et al, 2020;Justice, et al, 2020;Urm y Tulviste, 2016). Sin embargo, la mayor parte de ellos ha utilizado medidas de evaluación directa (Rowe, 2012;Fernald et al, 2013;Justice et al, 2020).…”

“…Son numerosos los estudios que ponen en evidencia la fuerza de dichas relaciones (Sultana et al, 2020;Justice, et al, 2020;Urm y Tulviste, 2016). Sin embargo, la mayor parte de ellos ha utilizado medidas de evaluación directa (Rowe, 2012;Fernald et al, 2013;Justice et al, 2020). Aquellos trabajos que han utilizado el informe parental, en cambio, han obtenido resultados menos claros o incluso contradictorios.…”

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“…Disparities in children's literacy and educational achievements are of global public concern (Walker et al, 2011 ; Garcia and Weiss, 2017 ). Their roots are evident early in development, with substantial differences in language skills associated with family socio-economic status and parent education apparent by just 24 months (Fernald et al, 2013 ; Justice et al, 2020 ). Such early differences in infant cognitive functioning persist (Bornstein, 2014 ) and influence the life trajectory, including future education and employment (Fagan et al, 2007 ).…”