Relations between Positive Parenting Behavior during Play and Child Language Development at Early Ages

Abstract

Parental behavior in interactions with children has been related to child language development. Our study contributes to the literature about relations between the characteristics of parent–child interactions during play and a child’s language development in typically developing children at early ages, with data from mothers and fathers from the same families in Spain. Our aim was to analyze the relation between positive parenting behaviors assessed with the Spanish version of the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) and child language development assessed with the Bayley-III scales. We controlled for some sociodemographic variables. The participants were 90 children aged 15–31 months and their mothers and fathers. Bivariate analysis showed significant positive relations between mothers’ responsive, encouraging and teaching behaviors and a child’s language scores. Relations were found between fathers’ encouraging and teaching behaviors and a child’s language. Regression models indicate that maternal and paternal encouraging behaviors predicted 18% of the variability in the child’s receptive language, and maternal responsive and teaching behaviors predicted 16% of the variability in the child’s expressive language and total language scores. The study provides new data that support the relevance of positive parental behaviors to improve a child’s linguistic development.

Severity of developmental delay and parenting behavior in toddlers with neurodevelopmental disabilities

“…Our sample was composed of 88 Italian mother-toddler dyads including an equal number of children with and without ND and with a chronological age between 12 and 47 months. Although the sample size was not a-priori determined by a power analysis, it is in line with recent studies that adopted the PICCOLO to compare parenting behavior in children with and without ND (Vilaseca et al, 2020;Rivero et al, 2023). The clinical group (N = 44 dyads; age range: 12.5-46.3 months) was composed of toddlers admitted at the Child Neuropsychiatry and Neurorehabilitation Unit of the Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea" (Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy), recruited at the beginning of their hospitalization.…”

“…This an important methodological aspect because, although a number of studies have examined affective behavior and responsiveness in parents of children with ND (Warren and Brady, 2007;Bornstein et al, 2008), there is a paucity of research specifically examining other parenting dimensions. Recent studies adopting the PICCOLO have started to shed light on how these parenting behaviors may be differentially affected by the presence of ND (Vilaseca et al, 2020) and are associated with developmental outcomes (Vilaseca et al, 2019a;Rivero et al, 2023).…”

Positive Parenting and Sociodemographic Factors Related to the Development of Chilean Children Born to Adolescent Mothers

“…The present study aims to provide insights that enable the implementation of intervention practices to enhance the quality of interaction between adolescent mothers and their children [72,73]. Despite the relevance of investigating adolescent motherhood, most studies of the relationship between parenting and child development have been carried out with adult mothers [74][75][76][77]. Few studies have explored the relationship between parenting in adolescent mothers, family sociodemographic factors, and child development.…”

The Effects of Language Background and Parental Education on Measures of Cognitive Ability: An Analysis of the WPPSI-IV Cognitive Profiles of Monolingual, Simultaneous Bilingual, and Sequential Bilingual German Children Aged 4 to 7 Years

“…Language acquisition is a complex process and its critical phase lies in the early lifespan of childhood [ 9 ]. Bilingual children often show reduced language abilities at the end of preschool [ 10 , 11 ] and regularly exhibit delayed language development as well as less pronounced language comprehension and a smaller receptive as well as expressive vocabulary [ 12 ].…”