Mothers' Vocabulary and Autonomy-Granting Behaviors as Predictors of Gains in Children's Vocabulary Competence from Age 3 to Age 4 Sara L. Sohr-Preston Southeastern Louisiana University Laura V. Scaramella Juli L. Weiss University of New Orleans

Background Commonly supported link between mothers’ and children’s vocabulary (e.g., Bornstein, Haynes, & Painter, 1998) Early parenting behaviors might partially explain this association (Culp et al., 2000; Pan et al., 2005) Reliable assessment of vocabulary difficult in early childhood Stability not yet achieved Scores may change in preschool years (e.g., Pan et al., 2005) Goal: Predict change in children’s vocabulary (age 3 to 4) from mother’s vocabulary and parenting behaviors

Basic Theoretical model Mother’s parenting (Age 2) Mother’s parenting (Age 4) Mother’s Vocabulary Child’s Vocabulary (Age 4) Child’s Vocabulary (Age 3)

Participants Mothers and Preschoolers Study 167 mother-child dyads PI: Laura Scaramella Recruitment through New Orleans area Head Start (H.S.) centers Target children were 2 year-old younger siblings of 3-4 year-old H.S. student Assessed annually over 3-year period 167 mother-child dyads

Procedures Age 2 assessment Age 3 assessment Age 4 assessment Clean up task Target children Mothers Age 3 assessment Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – III (PPVT; Dunn & Dunn, 1997) Age 4 assessment PPVT

Variables - Vocabulary Mother’s and children’s vocabulary PPVT standard scores Normed so that M=100, SD=15 Mothers M = 79.98 , SD = 11.48 Target children Age 3 M = 78.40, SD = 12.29 Age 4 M = 83.65, SD = 12.95

Variables - Parenting Mothers’ observed parenting Microsocial coding Rate-per-minute Autonomy-granting behaviors Indirect commands Explanations Supportive behaviors Positive reinforcement Positive physical

Variables – Parenting (con’t) Age 2 parenting Autonomy-granting behaviors M = 2.39, SD = 1.70 Supportive behaviors M = 1.25, SD = 1.32 Age 4 parenting M = 2.88, SD = 1.79 M = .55, SD = 1.02

Control variables Target child sex 71 boys 96 girls Global ratings of mothers’ parenting style Rated on 1-7 scale Positive parenting Mean = 3.26, SD = .07 Negative parenting Mean = 3.34, SD = .07

results Structural equation modeling (SEM) for hypothesis testing Models (preliminary and full model) estimated using AMOS 19.0 (Arbuckle, 2010)

Preliminary analysis Before examining full model, model estimated including potential control variables of child sex and global parenting styles predicting mother and child vocabulary Child sex significantly related to mother vocabulary score Positive parenting exhibited no significant relationships with mother or child vocabulary Negative parenting marginally inversely associated with child vocabulary Positive parenting excluded from subsequent analyses

Full model analysis Model fit: Χ2 (7, N = 167) = 4.38; p > .05 RMSEA = 0.00 CFI = 1.00 Good fit based on these indices (Hu & Bentler, 1999)

Summary of coefficients Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. Child sex 2. Global neg parenting -.14 3. Autonomy(age 2) .06 -.13 4. Autonomy(age 4) -.01 .38 5. Support(age 2) -.09 -.04 .26 6. Support(age 4) .04 .20 .22 7. Mother vocab -.18 -.10 .16 .19 .21 8. Child vocab (age 3) .12 .02 .11 .28 9. Child vocab (age 4) -.11 .00 -.20 -.03 .23 .34 Highlighted values are statistically significant (p < .05)

SEM Results – core model Autonomy-granting (Age 2) .38 ** Autonomy-granting (Age 4) .19 * .16 * .00 Mother Vocabulary (Age 3) .02 .26 ** Child Vocabulary (Age 4) .28 ** .34 ** Child Vocabulary (Age 3) .11 -.20** -.03 .21 ** Support (Age 4) Support (Age 2) .22 ** Control variables and correlations among exogenous variables not shown

Discussion Specific parenting behaviors (autonomy- granting), above and beyond overall parenting style, predicted advances in young children’s vocabulary Early support predicted declines, but that does not mean supportive parenting behaviors should be avoided Support likely encourages other adaptive developmental outcomes Mothers who themselves exhibited greater vocabulary competence more often engaged in autonomy-granting behaviors Earlier parenting behaviors were predictive, but concurrent parenting behaviors were not

Conclusion Mothers’ own vocabulary skills may serve as an important source of resiliency in fostering their children’s growth in vocabulary development during the preschool years