The Effect of Older Sibling, Postnatal Maternal Stress, and Household Factors on Language Development in Two to Four-Year-Old Children

Naomi Havron; Irena Lovcevic; Michelle Z.L. Kee; Helen Chen; Yap Seng Chong; Mary Daniel; Birit F.P. Broekman; Sho Tsuji

doi:10.1037/dev0001417

The Effect of Older Sibling, Postnatal Maternal Stress, and Household Factors on Language Development in Two to Four-Year-Old Children

Naomi Havron, Irena Lovcevic, Michelle Z.L. Kee, Helen Chen, Yap Seng Chong, Mary Daniel, Birit F.P. Broekman, Sho Tsuji

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Previous literature has shown that family structure affects language development. Here, factors relating to older siblings (their presence in the house, sex, and age gap), mothers (maternal stress), and household size and residential crowding were assessed to systematically examine the different roles of these factors. Data from mother–child dyads in a Singaporean birth cohort, (677–855 dyads; 52% males; 58% to 61% Chinese, 20% to 24% Malay, 17% to 19% Indian) collected when children were 24, 48, and 54 months old, were analyzed. There was a negative effect of having an older sibling, moderated by the siblings’ age gap, but not by the older sibling’s sex, nor household size or residential crowding. Maternal stress affected language outcomes in some analyses but not others.

Original language	English
Journal	Developmental Psychology
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001417
State	Accepted/In press - 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under its Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Program and administered by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore - NMRC/TCR/004-NUS/ 2008; NMRC/TCR/012-NUHS/2014. Additional funding is provided by the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. Furthermore, this work was supported by World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, JSPS Grant-in-aid for Transformative Research Areas (20H05919) and Institute for AI and Beyond, Japan. We thank Michael Meaney from A*Star Singapore and Anne Rifkin-Graboi, Center for Research in Child Development, National Institute of Education, Singapore, for providing insightful comments.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. American Psychological Association

Keywords

Cognitive development
Household size
Language development
Maternal stress
Older siblings

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Demography
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Life-span and Life-course Studies

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10.1037/dev0001417

Cite this

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title = "The Effect of Older Sibling, Postnatal Maternal Stress, and Household Factors on Language Development in Two to Four-Year-Old Children",

abstract = "Previous literature has shown that family structure affects language development. Here, factors relating to older siblings (their presence in the house, sex, and age gap), mothers (maternal stress), and household size and residential crowding were assessed to systematically examine the different roles of these factors. Data from mother–child dyads in a Singaporean birth cohort, (677–855 dyads; 52% males; 58% to 61% Chinese, 20% to 24% Malay, 17% to 19% Indian) collected when children were 24, 48, and 54 months old, were analyzed. There was a negative effect of having an older sibling, moderated by the siblings{\textquoteright} age gap, but not by the older sibling{\textquoteright}s sex, nor household size or residential crowding. Maternal stress affected language outcomes in some analyses but not others.",

keywords = "Cognitive development, Household size, Language development, Maternal stress, Older siblings",

author = "Naomi Havron and Irena Lovcevic and Kee, {Michelle Z.L.} and Helen Chen and Chong, {Yap Seng} and Mary Daniel and Broekman, {Birit F.P.} and Sho Tsuji",

note = "Funding Information: This research is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under its Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Program and administered by the Singapore Ministry of Health{\textquoteright}s National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore - NMRC/TCR/004-NUS/ 2008; NMRC/TCR/012-NUHS/2014. Additional funding is provided by the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. Furthermore, this work was supported by World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, JSPS Grant-in-aid for Transformative Research Areas (20H05919) and Institute for AI and Beyond, Japan. We thank Michael Meaney from A*Star Singapore and Anne Rifkin-Graboi, Center for Research in Child Development, National Institute of Education, Singapore, for providing insightful comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022. American Psychological Association",

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PY - 2022

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The Effect of Older Sibling, Postnatal Maternal Stress, and Household Factors on Language Development in Two to Four-Year-Old Children

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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