1. Background
How well you speak and understand a language has a
tremendous impact on all areas of life, and that it is
critical that children start developing language skills
early. Previous research has shown that the quality of
parenting has an effect on child language
development concurrently, and also as the child
matures (Hart & Risley, 1992; Landry et al., 2010).
Authoritative parenting style is when parents make
and enforce rules while still allowing the child to
make his/her own decisions, whereas Authoritarian
parenting style is parents are strict and give their
children extremely limited freedom (Baumrind,
1971). Although the dominance of these parenting
styles differs by culture, there does not seem to be
much research studying whether or not the effect of
parenting style on language differs by culture.
However, there is a significant effect of socioeconomic
status (SES; Hart & Risley, 1992). This study aims to
understand how parenting styles affect early language
development, and if the effects are uniform across the
U.S. and Chilean cultures, controlling for SES.
Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4(1p2), 1.
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1992) American parenting of language-learning children: Persisting differences in family-child interactions
observed in natural home environments. Developmental Psychology, 28(6), 1096.
Landry, S. H., Miller-Loncar, C.L., Smith, K.E., & Swank, P.R. (2002). The role of early parenting in children's development of executive
processes. Developmental neuropsychology, 21(1), 15-41.
Julian, T.W., McKenry, P.C., & McKelvey, M.W. (1994). Cultural variations in parenting: perceptions of Caucasian, African-American,
Hispanic, and Asian-American parents. Family Relations, 30-37.
Pungello, E.P., Iruka, I. U., Dotterer, A. M., Mills-Koonce, R., & Reznick, J.S. (2009). The effects of socioeconomic status, race, and
parenting on language development in early childhood. Developmental psychology, 45(2), 544.
Does Culture Influence Child Language Development
Through Parenting Styles: Comparing the U.S. and Chile
Rachel Nelson and Simone Alhagri
Under the direction of Claire Vallotton, Department of Human Development and Family Studies
Analyses. We used linear regression models to test our hypotheses, for both receptive and expressive language. We controlled for the effects
of children’s language scores at 12 months, culture, and SES, and tested whether parenting style predicted language skills at 30 months.
Results. Our hypothesis was that parenting style would influence early language development for both expressive and receptive language in
the U.S. and Chile. The children whose parents use the Authoritative parenting style will develop higher skills than children of parents who use
the Authoritarian parenting style. Our hypothesis was partially correct. Parenting style does have an effect on early language development, but
socioeconomic status (SES) was the best predictor. However, when this was controlled for, parenting style was still significant at 30 months.
Overall, children with Authoritative parents have better receptive and expressive language development regardless of culture. Parenting style
had an effect size of 0.35 on receptive language, and 0.43 on expressive language, which shows that both forms of language are heavily
influenced by the parenting style that is used, in both the Chilean and U.S. cultures. There was an effect of culture (country) on both receptive
and expressive language (U.S. scoring higher), but when SES was controlled, this effect remained only for expressive language.
Does parenting style influence early
language development and are the
results similar across the U.S and Chile?
Analysis and Results
Authoritarian vs. Authoritative Parenting Styles: Sensitivity Items (Table 1)
During the interaction, prioritizes the child rather than their own interest
Parent gives the child time to take initiative
Promotes and allows for communication
Allows for turn-taking with the child
Verbalizes the desires of the child in an appropriate way
Proposes activities that attempt a shared type of play
Play behaviors are interesting and change in an appropriate way
Verbal language is always positive and encouraging for the child during play, never
teases or criticizes the child’s behavior
Responds in an appropriate way to the child’s signals
DiscussionMethods
Sample: 120 parent-infant dyads from the U.S. and Chile;
infants were ~12 months at Wave 1, and ~30 m at Wave
2.
Procedure: When infants were 12 months, we recorded
the parents interacting with their child for five minutes
during free play and we rated them on items from the
Sensitivity Scale (Santelices et al., 2012). Then we tracked
the receptive and expressive language development of
children from 12 months and 30 months using the Bayley
Scales of Infant Development (Bayley, 2006).
Measurements: We chose specific items from the
Sensitivity Scale (Table 1), rating them from 1 (more
Authoritarian) to 3 (Authoritative). We averaged the
items together to create a score representing more
Authoritarian (lower score) to Authoritative style (higher
score). For our analyses, we use a standardized z-score
where the average parenting style is 0, more
Authoritarian is -1, and Authoritative is +1.
References
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-2 -1 0 1 2
ToddlerReceptiveLanguage
Parenting Style
Authoritarian ーーーー Authoritative
Effects of Parenting Style on Receptive Language
Development in Toddlerhood in Two Cultures
(Figure 1)
US Chile
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-2 -1 0 1 2
ToddlerExpressiveLanguage
Parenting Style
Authoritarian ーーーー Authoritative
Effects of Parenting Style on Expressive Language
Development in Toddlerhood in Two Cultures
(Figure 2)
US Chile
SES explains the cultural difference for receptive
language, although this is not the case with expressive
language where Americans scored higher regardless of
the controls. It was also discovered that parenting styles
is only significant for both forms of language at 30
months. The limitations of the study was the amount of
variance in our study due to using data from a sample,
and our regression only included culture, SES, and
parenting. Being a parent is one of the most important
jobs one can have. This study shows that your
disciplinary style with your child will have an affect on
their language development over time.
Question
Figures 1 and 2
show the average
receptive and
expressive
language scores of
toddlers (30
months) whose
parents had more
Authoritarian (-1)
vs. Authoritative
(+1) parenting
styles when they
were infants (12
months).
*This research was supported by grant Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo
Científico y Tecnológico, FONDECYT N° 1160110