Maternal Language Research Articles

Maternal education and Chinese second graders’ performance in language and literacy and math: testing the mediating effect of the home environment

ABSTRACT We tested possible mediating effect of 12 variables within the home environment on the link between maternal education level and Language and Literacy and Math scores in a sample of Chinese second graders (N = 303–306). Data on maternal education and home environment variables were obtained from the parents in January of 2019, while data on test scores were directly obtained from the children’s school in October of 2019. Path analyses showed that maternal education both directly and indirectly affected the children’s Language and Literacy scores and Math scores. The significant mediators included number of books at home and number of days that the children read for fun at home each week. As the identified mediating variables are malleable, strategies that promote maternal awareness on the benefit of cognitively enriched home environment might benefit children’s academic performance.

Emotion Socialization and Developmental Risk: Interactive Effects of Receptive Language and Maltreatment on Reminiscing.

Emotional reminiscing, or mother-child discussion of past emotional experiences, is a critical aspect of emotion socialization that predicts a range of child outcomes and is central to parent-child interventions. Thus, understanding individual differences in emotional reminiscing will advance our ability to identify families at-risk for poor emotion dialogues and to adapt interventions for diverse populations, such as families affected by maltreatment and mothers and children with low language abilities. The present study examined associations among maternal and child receptive language with emotional reminiscing and the moderating role of maltreatment. Two hundred and twenty three underserved, racially diverse mothers (144 maltreating) and their preschool aged children completed measures of receptive language (PPVT-4). Emotional reminiscing was comprehensively measured using maternal report and observations of emotion dialogues, including ratings of elaborations, maternal sensitive guidance, and child cooperative exploration. Child language was positively associated with all observed aspects of child reminiscing, and the association between child language and maternal reminiscing was moderated by maltreatment. For non-maltreating families, child language was positively associated with maternal factual elaborations and sensitive guidance. For the maltreating families, these associations were not significant, demonstrating that maltreatment disrupted the association between child language and reminiscing. Maternal language was significantly associated with maternal report of emotion dismissing behaviors, regardless of maltreatment status. Results highlight that language is an essential individual difference factor contributing to variance in emotion dialogues, and that maltreatment influences how child language relates to reminiscing. Future directions and clinical implications for families affected by developmental risk are considered.

How Early Maternal Language Input Varies by Race and Education and Predicts Later Child Language.

The maternal language input literature suggests that mothers with more education use a greater quantity and complexity of language with their young children compared to mothers with less education although race and socioeconomic status have been confounded in most studies because of small sample sizes. The current Family Life study included a representative sample of 1,292 children, oversampling for poverty and African American, followed from birth. This study found no race differences within maternal education levels on five measures of maternal language input from 6 to 36months. Maternal language input variables of number of different words, mean length of utterance and number of wh-questions were partial mediators of the relationship between maternal education and later child language at school age.

How Do Undiagnosed Symptoms of Maternal Psychological Distress During the Postnatal Period Affect Child Developmental Outcomes?

ObjectivesEvidence suggests that maternal psychological distress is an under-diagnosed condition that can have lasting impacts on child outcomes. Models based solely on maternal outcomes have not found screening to be cost-effective. This research explores the effects of self-reported maternal psychological distress on children’s language and behavioural development up to the age of 7.MethodsUsing longitudinal survey data from 10,893 families in the UK Millennium Cohort Study, multilevel models are used to explore the differential effects of maternal diagnosed and treated depression versus untreated maternal psychological distress during the postnatal year on longer-term child outcomes.ResultsBoth diagnosed and treated depression and self-reported maternal psychological distress have detrimental effects on child behavioural development. Behavioural outcomes up to age 5 were better for children of women who received treatment for depression, compared with children those whose mothers’ psychological distress was untreated, but this was not maintained to age 7. Little or no evidence of a difference was found between maternal psychological distress and child language development.Conclusions for PracticeThis research highlights the lack of effectiveness of existing treatment for maternal psychological distress both to benefit child development and to provide long-term symptom remediation for women. Future research could aim to identify more effective treatments for both women and children.

Increased Incidence of Small for Gestational Age Neonates Among Hispanic English Only Speaking Women [20C

INTRODUCTION: The association of limited English proficiency and adverse perinatal outcomes is unclear. This study looked at the relationship between maternal language proficiency and birth weight. METHODS: Data from all Hispanic/Latino women in the database Peribank were included. The GROW-Centile calculator from the Perinatal Institute categorized neonates into 3 groups: small for gestational age (SGA), normal for gestational age, and large for gestational age (LGA). Logistic regression analysis was used to control for confounding factors (type I/II diabetes, gestational diabetes, maternal smoking, hypertension/preeclampsia, BMI, parity, country of birth, total years living in the US). RESULTS: Spanish only speaking patients (n=6248) had a lower incidence of SGA neonates than those with some English proficiency (n=3955) (OR .822; 95% CI .707-.954; P=.012). In contrast, English only speaking patients (n=295) had a higher incidence of SGA neonates than those with some Spanish proficiency (n=9908) (OR 1.452; 95% CI 1.045-2.019, P=.026). Of note, Spanish only speaking patients (n=6248) had a higher incidence of LGA neonates than those with some English proficiency (n=3955) (OR 1.266; 95% CI 1.052-1.523, P=.012). No association was found between English only speaking patients and LGA neonates (P=.937). CONCLUSION: Spanish only speaking patients were associated with larger neonates than those who have some English proficiency. One hypothesis is that higher English proficiency may be an indicator of greater assimilation into American culture, and therefore increased adoption of the American diet. As Hispanic/Latino patients become further assimilated into the American culture and diet, they may be at a higher risk of SGA neonates.

Is feeding the new play? Examination of the maternal language and prosody used during infant feeding

The current study examined maternal language and prosody production during feeding (milk vs. solid foods) and playing with their infant compared to an adult-directed speech (ADS) baseline in 12 healthy full-term infants (6–13 months old). We recorded maternal language during 10 min of spontaneous speech across the four conditions. We further recorded maternal connected speech containing specific word targets, elicited through picture description, to attain prosodic measures. Results showed that mothers used significantly fewer verbs and more utterances per minute in the baseline condition compared to play or solid feeding conditions. Type token ratio was significantly higher during milk compared to play or solid feeding conditions and baseline was significantly higher than play. Vowel duration and peak fundamental frequency were significantly higher during play compared to ADS baseline. These findings suggest that maternal language and prosody changed across conditions, with feeding offering more lexical diversity than play. The most robust infant directed speech was observed during play and followed by the solid feeding condition, whereas it was not observed during the milk and ADS conditions. Identifying opportunities for maternal linguistic input is key to advancing infant development. These findings suggest that mealtime may provide such an opportunity for speech and language input.

Universal Measures of Support Are Needed: A Cross-Sectional Study of Health Literacy in Patients with Dupuytren's Disease.

Health literacy represents the degree to which patients can understand and act on health information. The relevance of health literacy to health care delivery, outcomes, and overall surgical care is unambiguous. This study aimed (1) to determine the prevalence of limited health literacy in patients diagnosed with Dupuytren's contracture and (2) to identify independent predictors of limited health literacy. This cross-sectional study included patients with Dupuytren's disease and with self-reported English fluency. The Newest Vital Sign, a rapid, validated, and reliable screening tool, was selected to measure health literacy. An exploratory multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify possible predictors of limited health literacy. A total of 185 patients met eligibility criteria and were included. From those, 82 (44 percent) were found to have limited health literacy, defined as a score of 3 or less on the Newest Vital Sign. The domain of prose literacy was most highly scored compared to numeracy and document literacy. Lower household income was associated with a 4.7-fold increase in the odds of having limited health literacy. Being an immigrant also increased the odds of having limited health literacy by a factor of 3.6. Sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses (based on education, maternal language, and immigration status) corroborated these independent predictor findings. Limited health literacy is common among patients with Dupuytren's contracture. System level changes are necessary such as the access and integration to clinical care of universal measures of support to promote productive patient-surgeon interactions.

Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals neural perception of vocal emotions in human neonates.

Processing affective prosody, that is the emotional tone of a speaker, is fundamental to human communication and adaptive behaviors. Previous studies have mainly focused on adults and infants; thus the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of affective prosody in newborns remain unclear. Here, we used near-infrared spectroscopy to examine the ability of 0-to-4-day-old neonates to discriminate emotions conveyed by speech prosody in their maternal language and a foreign language. Happy, fearful, and angry prosodies enhanced neural activation in the right superior temporal gyrus relative to neutral prosody in the maternal but not the foreign language. Happy prosody elicited greater activation than negative prosody in the left superior frontal gyrus and the left angular gyrus, regions that have not been associated with affective prosody processing in infants or adults. These findings suggest that sensitivity to affective prosody is formed through prenatal exposure to vocal stimuli of the maternal language. Furthermore, the sensitive neural correlates appeared more distributed in neonates than infants, indicating a high-level of neural specialization between the neonatal stage and early infancy. Finally, neonates showed preferential neural responses to positive over negative prosody, which is contrary to the "negativity bias" phenomenon established in adult and infant studies.

ARIJADNINA NIT U OVLADAVANJU FRAZEMIMA NA NASTAVI MATERINSKOGA I STRANOGA JEZIKA –KVANTITAVNO OBRAĐENI PODACI (PRVI DIO STUDIJE)

Considering the fact that phraseology as a linguistic discipline started developing as late as the mid-twentieth century, linguists first directed their attention to various theoretical questions using different approaches (e.g. structuralist, cognitive, linguocultural approach). Consequently, phraseodidactics became the weakest link of phraseology. Phraseological competence is one of the biggest challenges for students today; and not only for them, but also for their teachers. As one of the aspects of applied phraseology, phraseodidactics helps both the teachers and the students develop these competences, and offers them certain instruments and ways of mastering idiomatic expressions of a foreign language, as well as their maternal language. As a part of a broader study, a survey was conducted in which Croatian and Austrian respondents completed paper-based questionnaires. The aim of our research is to use empirical methods in determining whether or not (and if yes, to what degree) the students are familiar with idioms containing a mythological component and do they use them in their maternal language. The questionnaire consists of 30 idioms with a mythological component and aims to gather data about meaning, context of idiom usage and the image (association) a speaker forms about a particular idiom. The acquired data was analyzed using quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative data analysis was conducted using SPSS, a statistical software, whereas we used Atlas.ti, a qualitative data analysis software to carry out the qualitative research. In this paper, we will present merely a portion of total data, i.e. only the first part of the study.

Secondary Data Analysis of the 2012 Peru Demographic and Health Survey Examining Immunization Campaign Participation Among Children Aged 18 to 59 Months.

Objective. To evaluate the association between characteristics known to be associated with under-immunization and participation in immunization campaigns among Peruvian children. Methods. This is an analysis of data collected as part of the Peru 2012 Demographic and Health Survey. Analyses were conducted among children in 2 groups: children aged 18 to 29 months among whom core vaccine coverage is typically determined by the Peruvian authorities and children aged 30 to 59 months who may have received the core vaccines at older ages. The associations between relative wealth, location, maternal education, primary maternal language and the outcome, participation in an immunization campaign within the past 2 years were estimated using logistic regression models adjusted for survey design in each age group. Results. For children aged 18 to 29 months, campaign participation was higher if the mother had completed secondary school compared with those not having completed secondary school (27.4% vs 20.1% [prevalence odds ratio (POR) = 1.51 (1.08, 2.13)]). For children aged 30 to 59 months, campaign participation was higher if the mother had completed secondary school (40.4% vs 35.1% [POR = 1.23 (1.02, 1.49)], adjusted for residence) and if the child resided in Lima versus in other urban areas (46% vs 35.4% [POR = 1.52 (1.16, 2.01)], adjusted for maternal education). Relative wealth and mothers’ primary language were not associated with campaign participation. Conclusions. This study suggests that children of mothers with higher education and those residing in Lima had higher prevalence odds of reporting that their children had participated in a vaccination campaign. This contrasts with the populations vaccination campaigns typically target (poor, rural, or indigenous) to improve vaccination coverage.

Bilingual Preschoolers’ Speech is Associated with Non-Native Maternal Language Input

ABSTRACT Bilingual children are often exposed to non-native speech through their parents. Yet, little is known about the relation between bilingual preschoolers’ speech production and their speech input. The present study investigated the production of voice onset time (VOT) by Dutch-German bilingual preschoolers and their sequential bilingual mothers. The findings reveal an association between maternal VOT and bilingual children’s VOT in the heritage language German as well as in the majority language Dutch. By contrast, no input-production association was observed in the VOT production of monolingual German-speaking children and monolingual Dutch-speaking children. The results of this study provide the first empirical evidence that non-native and attrited maternal speech contributes to the often-observed linguistic differences between bilingual children and their monolingual peers.

From one colonial language to another: Translating Natasha Kanapé Fontaine’s “Mes lames de tannage”

Signed and posted to the internet on July 6, 2012 in the months following the “Printemps érable” and leading up to Idle No More, “Mes lames de tannage” is one of Natasha Kanapé Fontaine’s most important slams. In analysing my English translation of this slam, published in Canadian Literature in 2016, this essay speaks to the relationship between Indigenous literatures and European languages. It participates in a conversation about what it means to translate French-language Indigenous literature from Quebec into English. Such translation enables Indigenous writers across North America to make links with each other and foster a broader interpretive community for their writing. Given the flow of Indigenous literature and critical thought from English into French over the past decades, thanks to publishing houses in France, the recent wave of translations from French into English and the sharing of French-language work mark a significant shift in the field. At the same time, the gesture of translating into English a writer who works primarily in French but is in the process of relearning her maternal language, Innu-aimun, brings to the fore all the pitfalls of moving from one colonial language to another. The challenge for translation is not to lose sight of Kanapé Fontaine’s relationship to French and especially, the way she lends it her voice. In the slam, French is a language of contestation but also of collaboration. Drawing on what she calls a “poetics of relation to the land,” Kanapé Fontaine works toward a respectful cohabitation of the territory. In this context, my strategies of including the French alongside the English and leaving words un-translated aim to disrupt the English version, expose the mediating work of the settler-translator and turn attention to Kanapé Fontaine’s mobilization of French for a writing of decolonization.

Abstract: Universal Measures of Support Are Needed: A Cross-Sectional Study of Health Literacy in Dupuytren’s Patients

PURPOSE: Health literacy (HL) represents the degree to which patients can understand and act upon health information.1 An association between limited HL and poor health status, and all-cause mortality only partially illustrates the profound impact of HL on surgical patients.2 Confronted with a disease that is chronic in nature, associated with frequent recurrences, and has numerous treatment options, Dupuytren’s patients’ understanding of medical information becomes crucial. Our aims were 1) to determine the prevalence of limited HL in Dupuytren’s patients and 2) to identify independent predictors of limited HL. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed in a tertiary care center. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of Dupuytren’s and self-reported fluency in English were included. The Newest Vital Sign (NVS), a rapid, validated, and reliable screening tool previously used in the hand surgery literature, was selected to measure HL.3,4 Limited HL was defined as a score of ≤ 3 out of 6. An exploratory multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify possible predictors. RESULTS: A total of 185 patients met eligibility criteria and from those, 44% (n=82) had limited HL. Univariate analyses showed that patients with limited HL were more likely to be older (p=0.006), have a maternal language other than English (p=0.003), and have less education (p=0.002). Multivariable regression analysis revealed that being in the lower three income quintiles had a nearly 5-fold increase in the odds of having limited HL. Having immigrated increased the odds of limited HL by a factor of 3.6. Age, maternal language, education, comorbidities and employment were not independent predictors of limited HL. CONCLUSION: Our study reveals a high prevalence of limited HL (44%) amongst Dupuytren’s patient. It is clear that universal measure of support would be of high value when communicating and caring for all Dupuytren’s patients and potentially in hand surgery and beyond.

Routine Language: Speech Directed to Infants During Home Activities.

Everyday activities are replete with contextual cues for infants to exploit in the service of learning words. Nelson's (1985) script theory guided the hypothesis that infants participate in a set of predictable activities over the course of a day that provide them with opportunities to hear unique language functions and forms. Mothers and their firstborn 13-month-old infants (N=40) were video-recorded during everyday activities at home. Transcriptions and coding of mothers' speech to infants-time-locked to activities of feeding, grooming, booksharing, object play, and transition-revealed that the amount, diversity, pragmatic functions, and semantic content of maternal language systematically differed by activity. The activities of everyday life shape language inputs to infants in ways that highlight word meaning.

Vaccination coverage and proportion of incomplete vaccination schedule in children under seven years of age in Mexico

To assess vaccination coverage in children under seven years of age. Study based on the Halfway National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut MC 2016). Full vaccination coverage in children <1 year was 51.7%, (range: 67.6% [pentavalent (PV)] to 93.9% [BCG]), in those aged 12-23 months was 53.9% (range: 68.5% [MMR] to 98.3% [BCG]) and in those 24-35 months was 63.2% (range: 85.3% [pneumococcal]) to 98.6% [BCG]). In children aged six years, the coverage of 1 MMR dose was 97.8% and 50.7% for two doses. Only 2.2% of six year olds were not vaccinated. Variables associated with incomplete schedule were age of 2-5 months, mother being under 20 years of age or maternal language indigenous. The vaccination program needs to improve recruitment of newborns and their follow-up until they complete their immunization schedule, taking advantage of the local contacts with health services to vaccinate them.

Maternal Language and Child Vocabulary Mediate Relations Between Socioeconomic Status and Executive Function During Early Childhood.

This article examined longitudinal relations among socioeconomic risk, maternal language input, child vocabulary, and child executive function (EF) in a large sample (N=1,009) recruited for a prospective longitudinal study. Two measures of maternal language input derived from a parent-child picture book task, vocabulary diversity (VOCD), and language complexity, showed variation by socioeconomic risk at child ages 15, 24, and 36months. Maternal VOCD at child age 24months and maternal language complexity at child age 36months mediated the relation between socioeconomic risk and 48-month child EF, independent of parenting sensitivity. Moreover, 36-month child vocabulary mediated the relation between maternal language input and child EF. These findings provide novel evidence about mechanisms linking socioeconomic risk and child executive function.

Maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child interactions, and children's executive function.

This study examined the independent and mediated associations between maternal depression symptoms (MDS), mother-child interaction, and child executive function (EF) in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,037 children (50% boys) from predominantly low-income and rural communities. When children were 6, 15 and 24 months of age, mothers reported their level of depressive symptomatology. At 24 and 36 months of age, mother-child interactions during play were rated for warmth-sensitivity and harsh-intrusiveness, and dyadic joint attention and maternal language complexity were assessed from a book sharing activity. Children's EF (i.e., inhibitory control, working memory, and set shifting) were assessed at ages 36 and 48 months using a battery of six tasks. Results indicated that MDS at ages 15 and 24 months were negatively associated with children's EF at age 48 months. Additionally, harsh-intrusive mother-child interactions partially mediated this link. Although warmth-sensitivity, dyadic joint attention and maternal language complexity were all longitudinally related to EF, they did not serve as mediating mechanisms between MDS and EF. These results were obtained while controlling for multiple demographic factors, children's earlier cognitive abilities, maternal general distress and childcare experiences. Findings from this study identify 1 mechanism through which early exposure to MDS could be related to children's EF. (PsycINFO Database Record

TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFORMATION PROCESSING AND MINDFULNESS AS PREDICTORS IN MATERNAL-INFANT INTERACTION.

The cross-generational transmission of attachment appears to reflect a complex interplay of factors, which have been challenging to identify. The current longitudinal study explored the maternal cognitive model of relationships through language use, maternal mindfulness, and attachment style assessed prenatally, as predictors of maternal response to distress and infant behavior at 6 months' postpartum.Infant behavior to the mother also was examined toprovide an understanding of the evolving relationship. Thirty-two females were interviewed prenatally regarding social and family experiences. At 6 months' postpartum,each mother participated in a video-recorded session whereshe was asked to teachher infant a developmentally appropriate task.Videos wereanalyzed using the NCAST Teaching Protocol. Language use prenatally as well as the mindfulness facets (acting with awareness and describing) predicted the mothers' ability to respond to infant distress, indicating greater attunement. Infant's response to mother and clarity of cues also were predicted by maternal pronoun use. The study highlights the role of internal working models reflective of interpersonal beliefs, cognitive models, and current-moment awareness in maternal behavior. The effect of maternal language on infant behavior arguably indicates the infant's integration of maternal internal working models.

Does a ‘musical’ mother tongue influence cry melodies? A comparative study of Swedish and German newborns

The foetal environment is filled with a variety of noises. Among the manifold sounds of the maternal respiratory, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems, the intonation properties of the maternal language are well perceived by the foetus, whose hearing system is already functioning during the last trimester of gestation. These intonation (melodic) features, reflecting native-language prosody, have been found to shape vocal learning. Having had ample opportunity to become familiar with their mother’s language in the womb, newborns have been found to exhibit salient pitch-based elements in their own cry melodies. An interesting issue is whether an intrauterine exposure to a maternal pitch accent language, such as Swedish, in which emphatic syllables are pronounced typically on a higher pitch relative to other syllables will affect newborns’ cry melody (fundamental frequency contour). The present study aimed to answer this question by quantitatively analysing and comparing the melody structure in 52 Swedish compared with 79 German newborns. In accordance with previous approaches, cry melody structure was analysed by calculating a melody complexity index (MCI) expressing the share of cries exhibiting two or more (well-defined) arc-like substructures uttered during the recording sessions. A low MCI reflects a dominance of cries with a ‘simple’, i.e. single-arc melody. A significantly higher MCI was found in the Swedish infant group, which further corroborates the assumption that the well-known foetal sensitivity for musical (melodic) stimuli seems to shape infants’ cry melody.

Becoming a Communicative Partner: Infant Contingent Responsiveness to Maternal Language and Gestures

Infant contingent responsiveness to maternal language and gestures was examined in 190 Mexican American, Dominican American, and African American infant–mother dyads when infants were 14 and 24 months. Dyads were video‐recorded during book‐sharing and play. Videos were coded for the timing of infants’ vocalizations and gestures and mothers’ referential language (i.e., statements that inform infants about objects and events in the world; e.g., “That's a big doggy!”), regulatory language (i.e., statements that regulate infants’ attention or actions; e.g., “Look at that”, “Put it down!”), and gestures. Infants of all three ethnicities responded within 3 sec of mothers’ language and gestures, increased their responsiveness over development, and displayed specificity in their responses: They vocalized and gestured following mothers’ referential language and gestures, but were less likely than chance to communicate following mothers’ regulatory language. At an individual level, responsive infants had responsive mothers.