What Causes the Word Gap? Financial Concerns May Systematically Suppress Child-Directed Speech

Autor/inn/en	Ellwood-Lowe, Monica E.; Foushee, Ruthe; Srinivasan, Mahesh
Titel	What Causes the Word Gap? Financial Concerns May Systematically Suppress Child-Directed Speech
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 25 (2022) 1, (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Ellwood-Lowe, Monica E.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-7687
DOI	10.1111/desc.13151
Schlagwörter	Vocabulary Development; Child Development; Socioeconomic Status; Speech Communication; Play; Financial Problems; Parent Child Relationship; Parenting Skills; Preschool Children; Comparative Analysis; Language Acquisition + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Wortschatzarbeit; Kindesentwicklung; Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; Spiel; Parents-child relationship; Parent-child-relation; Parent-child relationship; Eltern-Kind-Beziehung; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb
Abstract	Parents with fewer educational and economic resources (low socioeconomic-status, SES) tend to speak less to their children, with consequences for children's later life outcomes. Despite this well-established and highly popularized link, less research addresses why the SES "word gap" exists. Moreover, while research has assessed individual-level contributors to the word gap--like differences in parenting knowledge--we know little about how structural constraints that vary according to SES might affect caregivers' speech. In two pre-registered studies, we test whether experiencing financial scarcity can suppress caregivers' speech to their children. Study 1 suggests that higher-SES caregivers who are prompted to reflect on scarcity--particularly those who reflect on financial scarcity--speak less to their 3-year-olds in a subsequent play session, relative to a control group. Study 2 suggests that mid- to higher-SES caregivers engage in fewer back-and-forth exchanges with their children at the end of the month--when they are more likely to be experiencing financial hardship--than the rest of the month. These studies provide preliminary evidence that--above and beyond caregivers' individual characteristics--structural constraints may affect how much parents speak to their children. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01