title: Maternal Depressive Symptomatology, Social Support, and Language Development of Bilingual Preschoolers From Low-Income Households.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the impact of maternal depressive symptomatology and social support on the English and Spanish language growth of young bilingual children from low-income backgrounds. It was hypothesized that maternal depression would slow children's development in both languages but that social support would buffer the negative effect.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal data were collected from 83 mothers of Puerto Rican descent and their children who were attending Head Start preschool for 2 years. The effects of maternal depressive symptomatology and social support from family and friends on receptive vocabulary and oral comprehension development in both languages were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Growth curve modeling revealed that maternal depressive symptomatology negatively affected Spanish receptive vocabulary development only. Maternal depression did not affect children's English receptive vocabulary or their oral comprehension in either language. Social support was not related to maternal depressive symptomatology or child language.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that maternal depression is 1 risk factor that contributes to less robust primary language development of bilingual children from low-income households. Speech-language pathologists must (a) increase their awareness of maternal depression in order to provide families with appropriate mental health referrals and (b) consider their roles as supportive adults for children whose mothers may be depressed.
authors: Lauren M
authors: LM
authors: Cycyk
authors: Dana
authors: D
authors: Bitetti
authors: Carol Scheffner
authors: CS
authors: Hammer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D019303:Multilingualism; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D013067:Speech Perception; D014825:Vocabulary