The Impact of Socioeconomic Status and Family Environment on Language Development: The Roles of Parenting Style and Parental Stress

Celine Yang

doi:10.54097/tw6qj925

Authors

Celine Yang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/tw6qj925

Keywords:

Language development, socioeconomic status (SES), parental stress, parenting style.

Abstract

Language development, a major predictor of cognitive ability, academic performance, mental health, and employment outcomes, has been demonstrated to be correlated with socioeconomic status (SES) by increasing research. Apart from the hindered affordability in the educational environment and resources, low SES families have deficits in language outcomes through everyday interaction at home. The present study synthesizes longitudinal and observational evidence from recent research and highlights how parental styles and psychological stress influence growth in language abilities. Authoritative (responsive and demanding) parenting correlates with a stronger language trajectory due to turn-taking conversations. Caregivers’ subjective appraisal of stress is a risk factor for infants’ phonological abilities, leading to detrimental consequences in language development. Strategies such as stress reduction intervention, improvement in input quality, and high-quality non-parental childcare are proven to be beneficial in supporting language growth and should be prioritized to mitigate the resulting disparities in language development from the SES gap for children’s lifelong outcomes and opportunities.

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References

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