Family Influences on Children's Verbal Ability

Abstract

This chapter explains the perspective of economics and focuses on the child's vocabulary test score to document the considerable influence that the family's resources have on their children's test scores. It introduces an additional factor, family culture, conceptualized as a family's willingness or inclination to expend resources on their children. The chapter utilizes a British data set--the Children of the National Child Development Study--that includes measures of both parental behaviors with the tested child and also grandparental behaviors with one of the child's parents as a child a generation earlier. It discusses the research that emphasizes the role of family resources as a central factor influencing the development of children's measured skills. Some emphasize the critical role of genetic endowments; others focus on the importance of the community, of the school, and racial, ethnic or religious cultures to which the child is exposed.