title: Parenting predictors of cognitive skills and emotion knowledge in socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers.
abstract: This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations of parental responsiveness and inferential language input with cognitive skills and emotion knowledge among socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers. Parents and 2- to 4-year-old children (mean age=3.21 years, N=284) participated in a parent-child free play session, and children completed cognitive (language, early literacy, early mathematics) and emotion knowledge assessments. Approximately 1 year later, children completed the same assessment battery. Parental responsiveness was coded from the videotaped parent-child free play sessions, and parental inferential language input was coded from transcripts of a subset of 127 of these sessions. All analyses controlled for child age, gender, and parental education, and longitudinal analyses controlled for initial skill level. Parental responsiveness significantly predicted all concurrent cognitive skills as well as literacy, math, and emotion knowledge 1 year later. Parental inferential language input was significantly positively associated with children's concurrent emotion knowledge. In longitudinal analyses, an interaction was found such that for children with stronger initial language skills, higher levels of parental inferential language input facilitated greater vocabulary development, whereas for children with weaker initial language skills, there was no association between parental inferential language input and change in children's vocabulary skills. These findings further our understanding of the roles of parental responsiveness and inferential language input in promoting children's school readiness skills.
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Electronic address: emilymerz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Emily C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Merz
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Tricia A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Zucker
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Susan H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Landry
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Assel
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Heather B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lonigan
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
authors.forename: Beth M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
authors.forename: Jeanine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clancy-Menchetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Special Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Marcia A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Villiers
mesh_terms: D001076:Aptitude / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Early childhood; Emotion knowledge; Language development; Parenting; School readiness; Socioeconomic status