Mother-Child Book-Sharing and Children's Storytelling Skills in Ethnically Diverse, Low-Income Families

Abstract

The present study examined book‐sharing interactions between mothers and their 4‐year‐old children from African American (n = 62), Dominican (n = 67), Mexican (n = 59) and Chinese (n = 82) low‐income U.S. families, and children's independent storytelling skills one year later. Mothers' book‐sharing style was analysed in terms of how much storyline information they provided (story components), the extent to which they asked children about the story (dialogic emphasis) and which features of the story they highlighted (story content). African American mothers referred to more story components than did Dominican mothers, and Mexican mothers surpassed Dominican and Chinese mothers. Mothers of all groups were low in dialogic emphasis; they predominantly narrated rather than asked about the story, although Mexican mothers asked relatively more questions than did African American and Dominican mothers. In terms of content, compared with other groups, African American mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘individual goals’, and Chinese mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘negative consequences’. Latino mothers were more likely to emphasize ‘emotions’ than were Chinese mothers. Children's storytelling styles partially mirrored those seen in their mothers. Mothers' dialogic emphasis related to children's contributions to book‐sharing, which in turn predicted children's later independent storytelling skills. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Annual review of Asian American Psychology, 2014.

“…Kim et al, 2014), quantitative-correlational designs including cross-sectional ( n = 6; e.g., E. H. Lee et al, 2014) and longitudinal designs (Luo, Tamis-LeMonda, Kuchirko, F. Ng, & Liang, 2014; Y. Shen et al, 2014), qualitative designs (interview, n = 5; e.g., Meschke & Juang, 2014), and mixed methods (Fu & Markus, 2014).…”

“…Shen et al, 2014), qualitative designs (interview, n = 5; e.g., Meschke & Juang, 2014), and mixed methods (Fu & Markus, 2014). Data analyses used mainly structural equation modeling ( n = 6; e.g., Campos et al, 2014) and analysis of variance (Jensen & Dost-Gözkan, 2014; Luo et al, 2014). …”

Annual review of Asian American Psychology, 2013.

“…Most studies focused on children (n = 4; e.g., E. H. and adolescents (n = 8; e.g., Fu & Markus, 2014), with a few focusing on adults (n = 3; e.g., Campos, Ullman, Aguilera, & Dunkel Schetter, 2014). Studies employed quantitative-experimental designs (E. , quantitativecorrelational designs including cross-sectional (n = 6; e.g., E. H. and longitudinal designs (Luo, Tamis-LeMonda, Kuchirko, F. Ng, & Liang, 2014;Y. Shen et al, 2014), qualitative designs (interview, n = 5; e.g., Meschke & Juang, 2014), and mixed methods (Fu & Markus, 2014).…”

Children's Literacy Experiences in Low‐Income Families: The Content of Books Matters

“…Further, mothers’ use of questions encourages child participation in book sharing and relates to children's narrative and language skills (Bus et al., ; Luo, Tamis‐LeMonda, Kuchirko, Ng, & Liang, ; Melzi, Schick, & Kennedy, ). For example, mothers who asked more questions about the story had children who made more narrative contributions during book sharing (Luo et al., ). Despite the benefits of asking questions, parents tend to ask only a few during book‐sharing interactions (A. Anderson, Anderson, Lynch, Shapiro, & Kim, ).…”