The Contributions of Parenting and Postnatal Depression on Emergent Language of Children in Low-Income Families

Abstract

Children's emergent language develops in a rich context of varied influences afforded by their familial and social environments. Using data collected during a longitudinal prospective service project, this study examined the direct and indirect contributions of parenting knowledge and practices and maternal postnatal depression on emergent language competencies of 198 very young children in high-risk Latino and African/American families in an urban area. The study used the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory, a constructed measure of risky parenting practices for child well-health, home-safety, and corporal discipline, a constructed measure for children's involvement in literacy oriented activities, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories to build and test a structural equation model with AMOS/SPSS 16. The results provide support for a mediated path model. Parenting knowledge and maternal postnatal depressive symptoms interacted directly and indirectly in influencing risky parental practices and children's exposure in literacy oriented stimulation activities and emergent language. Children's involvement in stimulation activities mediated the effects of parenting and maternal mental health and directly predicted a robust amount children's emergent vocabulary. The model produced similar results for boys and girls, although boys had poorer outcomes. These findings provide empirical evidence that clinical practice and policy efforts are needed for reducing maternal postnatal depression in strengthening parenting efforts and in affording meaningful parent-child interactions and for assuring that children receive adequate exposure to activities that promote language development. Methodological limitations and recommendations for future research are addressed.

A Structural Model of the Influence of Immigrant Mothers' Depressive Symptoms and Home Environment on Their Children's Early Developmental Outcomes in Taiwan

“…The PLS model results suggest that insufficient family income had a negative impact on child development, both directly and indirectly by increasing maternal depressive symptoms. The finding agrees with most previous research (e.g., Black et al, ; Huth‐Bocks et al, ; Violato et al, ; Zajicek‐Farber, ). However, in this study there was no direct link between insufficient family income and the quality of the home environment.…”

“…Maternal depressive symptoms had a direct and negative impact on the quality of the home environment, and the quality of the home environment affected child development directly and positively. The results support previous findings that the quality of the home environment mediates the relationship between maternal depression and child development (Black et al, ; Huth‐Bocks et al, ; Zajicek‐Farber, ), and demonstrate that this relationship holds true in an Asian immigrant population.…”

“…Maternal depressive symptoms had a direct and negative impact on the quality of the home environment, and the quality of the home environment affected child development directly and positively. The results support previous findings that the quality of the home environment mediates the relationship between maternal depression and child development (Black et al, 2007;Huth-Bocks et al, 2001;Zajicek-Farber, 2010), and demonstrate that this relationship holds true in an Asian immigrant population. Maternal depressive symptoms and child development were significantly and negatively correlated in bivariate analysis, but the direct path between maternal depressive symptoms and child development was not significant in the structural model.…”

“…The quality of the home environment for child development can be evaluated based on the sensitivity of parenting behavior, developmentally oriented caregiving, and the amount of developmentally appropriate stimulation in the home (Black et al, ; Huth‐Bocks, Levendosky, & Semal, ; Zajicek‐Farber, ). Findings of a recent longitudinal study indicated that maternal depression and risky parental practices, including corporal discipline, an unsafe home, and nonadherence to well‐child health visits, have an indirect impact on the child's language development through lack of stimulation activities (Zajicek‐Farber, ). Huth‐Bocks et al () found that maternal depression affected the child's cognitive functioning indirectly through the home environment.…”

24‐Month‐Old Children With Larger Oral Vocabularies Display Greater Academic and Behavioral Functioning at Kindergarten Entry

“…Our study’s findings of low SES’s continuing negative relation with oral vocabulary, as well as the uniquely positive relation observed for parenting behaviors that are cognitively stimulating, child-centered, and positive, are consistent with these theoretical accounts, and suggest that interventions may need to be specifically targeted to 24-month-old children being raised in disadvantaged home environments (Hart & Risley, 1995). Our findings are also consistent with other research indicating that being born with very low birth weight (Stolt, Haataja, Lapinleium, & Lehtonen, 2008) and being raised in a household with a mentally ill family member (Zajicek-Farber, 2010) may contribute to delays in oral vocabulary acquisition. The negative association with being a non-singleton is consistent with other work (Hillemeier et al, 2009), and may result from parents speaking fewer words to each child when they are raising two or more children of the same age.…”