Research Digest
Young Latino Infants and Families: Parental Involvement Implications from
a Recent National Study
Michael L. López, Ph.D., National Center for Latino Child & Family
Research; Sandra Barrueco, Ph.D., The Catholic University of America; Erika
Feinauer, Ed.D., National Science Foundation; and Jonathan C. Miles, Ph.D.,
Searchlight Consulting
June 20071
Introduction
Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States,
especially among families living in poverty and children under 5 years of age.
The number of Latino children under 5 is expected to increase 146% between 2005
and 2050 (Day, 1996).2
Currently, Latino children already represent 21.4% of the early childhood population—an
amount larger than all minority groups of that age combined.3
Relative to the size of this population, there exists little research considering
Latino infant and child development. To better understand the various factors
influencing Latino infant development, it is important to explore the contributions
of parenting behaviors to young children's development within the broader context
of demographics, community characteristics, and other factors.
This research brief describes the findings from a recent study examining parenting
behaviors and children's developmental outcomes. The study provides a deeper
understanding of how cultural practices combine with other factors to shape
parenting behaviors among families in the United States in the first year of
children's lives. Several findings provide information about ways in which practitioners
and Latino families can more effectively engage with young Latino children to
influence their cognitive, social, language, and literacy development—and
therefore facilitate their school readiness.
The Study
The ongoing study examined the characteristics and early predictors of infant
development and parenting, utilizing a large, nationally representative sample
of 9-month-old infants and their families from the Department of Education's
Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey—Birth Cohort (ECLS–B). The 10,688
children included in the study were selected from birth records of children
born in the United States in 2001 and are being followed from birth through
kindergarten entry.
Key Findings
Family engagement matters for all children in the early years regardless of
social, cultural, or ethnic group. Children's cognitive and motor development
skills in the first year of life are associated with parents' reports of the
frequency of their language and literacy activities with their children, as
well as with observations of parents' responsiveness to their children's emotional
cues. In other words, children whose parents read and talk with them more and
are emotionally responsive have more developed cognitive and motor competencies.
These two types of parenting behaviors—frequency of language and literacy
engagement and parental emotional responsiveness—are important parenting
behaviors that influence development for all children, across cultural, social,
and ethnic groups
There are no differences in cognitive and motor competencies between Latino
children and their White peers at 9 months of age, when pre-existing differences
in socio-economic status (e.g., family income, parental education, etc.) are
taken into consideration. This is an important finding because we know from
other studies that, as early as kindergarten, differences have been found between
Latino children and White children in terms of school readiness measures. For
example, at the beginning of kindergarten, 75% of White children recognize letters,
while only 50% of Latino children have learned this skill.4
We were curious to explore what parenting behaviors in early childhood would
contribute to the positive development of the cognitive and motor skills crucial
for school readiness.
Few differences in parenting behaviors exist across ethnic groups; however,
Latino families are less likely to read books and share stories with their children
than parents from other ethnic backgrounds. This is a significant finding, given
that book reading and storytelling are considered measures of language and literacy
engagement—two important behaviors related to children's developmental
outcomes in the study. The lower rate of book reading by Latino parents with
their young children has been found in several previous studies.5
Researchers and practitioners have subsequently suggested that Latino parents
may engage in other, perhaps more culturally relevant, forms of talk with their
young children, such as storytelling.6
However, this study of infants now joins another related study indicating that
Latino families engage in fewer storytelling activities with their young children.7
Lessons Learned and General Implications
The findings from our study suggest the need to target and increase the frequency
of book reading and storytelling, as well as other related language and literacy
activities, in Latino families in order to keep Latino children developmentally
on par with their White peers after 9 months of age. These efforts should use
culturally and linguistically responsive approaches, particularly for the large
number of Latino families who are Spanish-speaking or bilingual. These approaches
include the following:
-
Support Latino parents' knowledge about bilingual language development
and broaden their perspectives related to parenting roles and expectations.
Spanish-speaking parents are eager to better understand language and literacy
development, particularly the bilingual and biliteracy development that
they and their children are experiencing.8
However, parents frequently receive confusing or unclear messages from other
family members, professionals, and the media regarding language development
across bilingual environments. Furthermore, many Latino immigrants may perceive
the parenting role as one that primarily supports nurturance, health, and
protection of young children, and one that facilitates learning activities
rather than directly engages in them.9
Thus, addressing Latino parents' basic knowledge about bilingual language
development and the varying parenting perspectives that exist in the U.S.
may be an important aspect of targeting language and literacy involvement
in the home.
-
Support the use of language and literacy activities in the home, regardless
of whether family members speak in English or Spanish. Various studies
have demonstrated that development in a child's first language (often the
home language) is important for later English abilities, total language,
and literacy abilities, as well as for social and emotional development.
This has been shown in both the classroom and the home environments.10
Our study of ECLS–B suggested that the extent of English and/or Spanish
use in the home did not relate to child development; rather, the amount
of talking and book reading by parents mattered—regardless of the language
spoken. Thus, providers can help Latino parents understand that speaking
and/or reading with their young children in Spanish or any other language
will help improve their children's overall development, including their
English learning.
-
Provide parents books to use in the home and model their use. Pediatric
studies have demonstrated that discussing, modeling, and providing books
within primary health care settings can increase family literacy activities
and development for infants and toddlers from a variety of language backgrounds,
including Latinos.11
As such, providing materials that can facilitate language development within
Latino families is another important consideration. Such materials should
be carefully crafted to the language and literacy skills of the local community
of Latino parents.
Conclusion
Together, these findings suggest that efforts targeting the practice of language
and literacy activities in Latino homes should incorporate bilingual book provision
and modeling, parental understanding of language development, as well as cultural
and developmental perspectives regarding parenting roles and expectations within
the Latino community. The more that providers can emphasize the tremendous value
that everyday language and literacy activities can play in supporting their
children's development, the more likely Latino parents' strong aspirations for
their children's academic success will result in more active engagement in language
and literacy activities at home.
1 Summarized
from López, M. L., Barrueco, S., & Miles, J. (2006). Latino infants
and their families: A national perspective of protective and risk developmental
factors. Report submitted to National Task Force on Early Childhood Education
for Hispanics and the Foundation for Child Development.
2 Day, J.
C. (1996). Population projections of the United States by age, sex, race,
and Hispanic origin: 1995 to 2050. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census,
Current Population Reports, P25-1130, U.S. Government Printing Office.
3 U.S. Census
Bureau (2004). Table 4: Annual estimates of the population by sex and age for
the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2003. (NC-EST2003-04-3, 5, 7, 12
& 13).
4 West, J.,
Denton, K., & Germino-Hausken, E. (2000). America's kindergartners: Findings
from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99:
Fall 1998 (NCES 2000-070, revised). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics.
5 For example,
see Flores, G., Tomany-Korman, S. C., & Olson, L. (2005). Does disadvantage
start at home? Racial and ethnic disparities in health-related early childhood
home routines and safety practices. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent
Medicine, 159(2), 158–165; Raikes, H., Alexander Pan, B., Luze,
G., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Brooks-Gunn, J., Constantine, J., et al. (2006). Mother–child
bookreading in low-income families: Correlates and outcomes during the first
three years of life. Child Development, 77(4), 924–953.
6 For example,
see Raikes, Alexander Pan, Luze, Tamis-LeMonda, Brooks-Gunn, Constantine, et
al., 2006; Riojas-Cortez, M., Flores, B. B., Smith, H. L., & Clark, E. R.
(2003). Cuentame un cuento [Tell me a story]: Bridging family literacy traditions
with school literacy. Language Arts, 81(1), 62–71.
7 Nord, C.
W., Lennon, J., Liu, B., & Chadler, K. (1999). Home literacy activities
and signs of children's emerging literacy, 1993 and 1999. Statistics In Brief.
NCES Publication No. 2000-026rev. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics.
8 For example,
see Lee, S. L.(1999). The linguistic minority parent's perceptions of bilingual
education. Bilingual Research Journal, 23(2&3).
9 Halgunseth,
L. C., Ispa, J. M., & Rudy, D. (2006). Parental control in Latino families:
An integrated review of the literature. Child Development, 77(5),
1282–1297.
10 For example,
see National Task Force for Hispanic Early Education. (2007). Para nuestros
niños. Phoenix: Arizona State University; Ezell, H. K., Gonzales,
M. D., & Randolph, E. (2000). Emergent literacy skills of migrant Mexican
American preschoolers. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 21(3),
147–153.
11 For example,
see Golova, N., Alario, A. J., Vivier, P. M., Rodriguez, M., & High, P.
C. (1999). Literacy promotion for Hispanic families in a primary care setting:
A randomized, controlled trial. Pediatrics, 103, 993–997;
Mendelson, A. L., Mogilner, L. N., Dreyer, B. P., Forman, J. A., Weinstein,
S. C., Broderick, M., et al. (2001). The impact of a clinic-based literacy intervention
on language development in inner-city preschool children. Pediatrics,
107, 130–134; Silverstein, M., Iverson, L., & Lozano, P. (2002).
An English-language clinic-based literacy program is effective for a multilingual
population. Pediatrics, 109, 1–6.
Michel L. López, Ph.D.
National Center for Latino Child & Family Research
22610 Woodfield Road
Laytonsville, MD 20882
Email: milopez@earthlink.net
Website: www.LatinoChildResearch.org
Sandra Barrueco, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
327 O'Boyle Hall
Washington, DC 20064
Email: barrueco@cua.edu
Erika Feinauer, Ed.D.
SRCD Policy Fellow
National Science Foundation
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
4201 S. Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22203
Email: erika.feinauer@gmail.com
Jonathan C. Miles, Ph.D.
Searchlight Consulting
2121 Jamieson Ave, #1702,
Alexandria, VA 22314
Email: searchlightjcm@yahoo.com
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