Abstract
The present study investigates the relationship between socioeconomic status, home environment, and amount of childcare on language of three-, four-, and five-year-old children. This study also develops a parental report measure of home environment. Results confirm the positive relationship between language and socioeconomic status. Findings on the positive relationship between language and home environment, as measured with the new Home Environment Questionnaire, are consistent with previous research using exhaustive observational and interview measures. Furthermore, results show hours per week of childcare are not related to language after controlling for socioeconomic status and home environment. This study confirms validity of the new Home Environment Questionnaire offering an alternative to measuring home environment which may suit a wider range of study circumstances. This new tool will allow researchers to better understand the positive and negative influences on children’s development.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adi-Japha, E., & Klein, P. S. (2009). Relations between parenting quality and cognitive performance of children experiencing varying amounts of childcare. Child Development, 80, 893–906. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01304.x.
Bornstein, M. H., Haynes, M. O., & Painter, K. M. (1998). Sources of child vocabulary competence: a multivariate model. Journal of Child Language, 25, 367–393. doi:10.1017/S0305000998003456.
Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 371–399. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233.
Bradley, R. H., Corwyn, R. F., Burchinal, M., McAdoo, H. P., & García Coll, C. (2001). The home environments of children in the United States Part II: relations with behavioral development through age thirteen. Child Development, 72, 1868–1886. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.t01-1-00383.
Crosby, D. A., Gennetian, L., & Huston, A. C. (2005). Child care assistance policies can affect the use of center-based care for children in low-income families. Applied Developmental Science, 9, 86–106. doi:10.1207/s1532480xads0902_4.
Downer, J. T., & Pianta, R. C. (2006). Academic and cognitive functioning in first grade: Associations with earlier home and child care predictors and with current home and classroom experiences. School Psychology Review, 35, 11–30.
Fergusson, E., Maughan, B., & Golding, J. (2008). Which children receive grandparental care and what effect does it have? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 161–169. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01840.x.
Fewell, R. R., & Deutscher, B. (2004). Contributions of early language and maternal facilitation variables to later language and reading abilities. Journal of Early Intervention, 26, 132–145. doi:10.1177/105381510402600205.
Geoffroy, M. C., Côté, S. M., Borge, A. I. H., Larouche, F., Séguin, J. R., & Rutter, M. (2007). Association between nonmaternal care in the first year of life and children’s receptive language skills prior to school entry: the moderating role of socioeconomic status. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 490–497. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01704.x.
Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 26, 55–88. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2005.11.002.
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1998). The relation of birth order and socioeconomic status to children’s language experience and language development. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 19, 603–629. doi:10.1017/S0142716400010389.
Lombardi, J. (1993). Looking at the child care landscape. Pediatrics, 91, 179–181.
Melhuish, E. C., Lloyd, E., Martin, S., & Mooney, A. (1990). Type of childcare at 18 months-II: relations with cognitive and language development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31, 861–870. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1990.tb00829.
Melhuish, E. C., Phan, M. B., Sylva, K., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Taggart, B. (2008). Effects of the home learning environment and preschool center experience upon literacy and numeracy development in early primary school. Journal of Social Issues, 64, 95–114. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00550.
Mendelsohn, A. L., Dreyer, B. P., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., & Ahuja, P. (1999). Validity of the StimQ, a scale for assessing the cognitive home environment. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 20, 399.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network. (2000). The relation of child care to cognitive and language development. Child Development, 71, 960–980. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00202.
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. (2006). Mother supplement questionnaire. Retrieved June 27, 2009, from ftp://www.nlsinfo.org/pub/usersvc/Child-Young-Adult/childya2006/Child%202006%20questionnaires/MotherSupplement2006_AssessmentsR22Release.html.
Noble, K. G., McCandliss, B. D., & Farah, M. J. (2007). Socioeconomic gradients predict individual differences in neurocognitive abilities. Developmental Science, 10, 464–480. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00600.
Pearson Education Inc. (2007). PPVT-4 Publication Summary Form. Retrieved June 26, 2009, from http://www.pearsonassessments.com/pdf/pubsum/ppvt4.pdf.
Peisner-Feinberg, E. S., Burchinal, M. R., Clifford, R. M., Culkin, M. L., Howes, C., Kagan, S. L., & Yazejian, N. (2001). The relation of preschool child-care quality to children’s cognitive and social development trajectories through second grade. Child Development, 72, 1534–1553. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00364.
Roberts, E., Bornstein, M. H., Slater, A. M., & Barrett, J. (1999). Early cognitive development and parental education. Infant and Child Development, 8, 49–62. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1522-7219(199903)8:1<49::AID-ICD188>3.0.CO;2-1.
Rodriguez, E. T., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Spellmann, M. E., Pan, B. A., Raikes, H., Lugo-Gil, J., & Luze, G. (2009). The formative role of home literacy experiences across the first three years of life in children from low-income families. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 677–694. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2009.01.003.
Terrisse, B., Roberts, D. S. L., Palacio-Quintin, E., & MacDonald, B. E. (1998). Effects of parenting practices and socioeconomic status on child development. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 57, 114–123.
Vandell, D. L., Belsky, J., Burchinal, M., Steinberg, L., Vandergrift, N., & Early Child Care Research Network, N. I. C. H. D. (2010). Do effects of early child care extend to age 15 years? Results from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Child Development, 81, 737–757. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01431.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Note: The HEQ measures several aspects of home environment contributing to children’s development. Items include academic activities, availability of learning resources, and cultural activities. Composite scores based on parents’ responses to HEQ items were found to be predictive of language scores in children (r² = .20, p < .01) after controlling for socioeconomic status. TV hours on item 16 were summed. * Indicates items were reverse scored. ** Indicates item was eliminated from analysis.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miser, T.M., Hupp, J.M. The Influence of Socioeconomic Status, Home Environment, and Childcare on Child Language Abilities. Curr Psychol 31, 144–159 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-012-9139-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-012-9139-0