Research regarding specific strategies adolescent mothers (AMs) may utilize to facilitate early language and emergent literacy skills in their children is lacking. This exploratory study investigated AMs’ perceived use of preselected common language and emergent literacy strategies and correlated their use of these strategies to their children’s language skills. In total, 12 AMs enrolled in an alternative school program were surveyed using the Self-Assessment of Language and Literacy Implementation (SALLI) and also completed a self-report of their child’s language development using the norm-referenced MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories (CDI). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s Rank Correlation to determine the significance and relationship between variables. AMs scored low on the SALLI, with the lowest scores specifically in the areas of Directiveness and Home Environment. Results on the CDI indicated that the children had below average receptive and expressive language skills.
AvineriN.JohnsonE.Brice-HeathS.McCartyT.OchsE.Kremer-SadlikT.. . . ParisD. (2015). Invited forum: Bridging the “Language Gap.”Journal of Linguistic Anthro-pology, 25, 66–86.
2.
AyoubC.O’ConnorE.Rappolt-SchlictmannG.VallottonC.RaikesH.Chazan-CohenR. (2009). Cognitive skill performance among young children living in poverty: Risk, change, and the promotive effects of Early Head Start. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24, 289–305.
3.
BerlinL. J.Brady-SmithC.Brooks-GunnJ. (2002). Links between childbearing age and observed maternal behaviors with 14-month-olds in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Infant Mental Health Journal, 23, 104–129.
4.
Brady-SmithC.O’BrienC.BerlinL.WareA.FauthJ.Brooks-GunnJ. (2000). Child-parent interaction rating scales for the three-bag assessment: 36-month wave. New York, NY: Teachers College, Columbia University.
5.
BurgessS. (2005). The preschool home literacy environment provided by teenage mothers. Early Child Development and Care, 175, 249–258.
6.
CaldwellB.BradleyR. (1972). Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory. Little Rock: Center for Child Development and Education, University of Arkansas.
7.
CrnicK. A.RagozinA. S.GreenbergM. T.RobinsonN. M.BashamR. B. (1983). Social interaction and developmental competence of preterm and full-term infants during the first year of life. Child Development, 54, 1199–1210.
8.
ElardoR.BradleyR. H.CaldwellB. M. A. (1977). A longitudinal study of the relation of infants’ home environments to language development at age three. Child Development, 48, 595–603.
9.
EmeryJ.PaquetteD.BigrasM. (2008). Factors predicting attachment patterns in infants of adolescent mothers. Journal of Family Studies, 14, 65–90.
10.
FensonL.MarchmanV. A.ThalD. J.DaleP. S.ReznickJ. S.BatesE. (2007). MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: User’s guide and technical manual (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
11.
FieldT.EstroffD. B.YandoR.ValleC. D.MalphursJ.HartS. (1996). “Depressed” mothers’ perceptions of infant vulnerability are related to later development. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 27, 43–53.
12.
FlynnV.MasurE. (2007). Characteristics of maternal verbal style: Responsiveness and directiveness in two natural contexts. Journal of Child Language, 34, 519–543.
13.
FuligniA. S.Brooks-GunnJ. (2013). Mother–child interactions in Early Head Start: Age and ethnic differences in low-income dyads. Parenting Science and Practice, 13, 1–26.
HartB.RisleyT. R. (2003). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word gap by age 3. American Educator, 27(1), 4–9.
16.
HarwoodR. L.LeyendeckerB.CarlsonV. J.AsencioM.MillerA. (2002). Parenting among Latino families in the U.S. In BornsteinM. H. (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Volume 4: Social conditions and applied parenting (2nd ed., pp. 21–46). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
17.
HoffE. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 26, 55–88.
18.
HoffmanS. D.MaynardR. A. (2008). Kids having kids: Economic costs and social consequences of teen pregnancy (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
19.
HuangC. Y.CosteinesJ.KaufmanJ. S.AyalaC. (2014). Parenting stress, social support, and depression for ethnic minority adolescent mothers: Impact on child development. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23, 255–262.
20.
IspaJ. M.FineM. A.HalgunsethL. C.HarperS.RobinsonJ.BoyceL.. . . Brady-SmithC. (2004). Maternal intrusiveness, maternal warmth, and mother-toddler relationship outcomes: Variations across low-income ethnic and acculturation groups. Child Development, 75, 1613–1631.
21.
JaffeeS.CaspiA.MoffittT. E.BelskyJ.SilvaP. (2001). Why are children born to teen mothers at risk for adverse outcomes in young adulthood? Results from a 20-year longitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 377–397.
22.
KeownL. J.WoodwardL. J.FieldJ. (2001). Language development of pre-school children born to teenage mothers. Infant and Child Development, 10, 129–145.
23.
KlothS.JanssenP.KraaimaatF.BruttenG. J. (1998). Communicative styles of mothers interacting with their preschool-age children: A factor analytic study. Journal of Child Language, 25, 149–168.
24.
Koniak-GriffinD.Turner-PlutaC. (2001). Health risks and psychosocial outcomes of early childbearing: A review of the literature. Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 15(2), 1–17.
25.
LanziR. G.BertS. C.JacobsB. K. (2009). Depression among a sample of first-time adolescent and adult mothers. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 22, 194–202.
26.
LoniganC. J.ShanahanT. (2009). Developing early literacy: Report of the national early literacy panel: A scientific synthesis of early literacy development and implications for intervention. National Institute for Literacy. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED508381.pdf
27.
MeadeC. S.KershawT. S.IckovicsJ. R. (2008). The intergenerational cycle of teenage motherhood: An ecological approach. Health Psychology, 27, 419–429.
28.
MollbornS.DennisJ. A. (2011). Investigating the life situations and development of teenage mothers’ children: Evidence from the ECLS-B. Population Research and Policy Review, 31, 31–66.
29.
PineJ. M. (1992). Maternal style at the early one-word stage: Re-evaluating the stereotype of the directive mother. First Language, 12, 169–186.
SchmittS. A.SimpsonA. M.FriendM. (2011). A longitudinal assessment of the home literacy environment and early language. Infant and Child Development, 20, 409–431.
StainthorpR.HughesD. (2000). Family literacy activities in the homes of successful young readers. Journal of Research in Reading, 23, 41–54.
34.
Tamis-LeMondaC. S.BornsteinM. H.BaumwellL. (2001). Maternal responsiveness and children’s achievement of language milestones. Child Development, 72, 748–767.
35.
UmekL. M.PodlesekA.FekonjaU. (2005). Assessing the home literacy environment: Relationships to child language comprehension and expression. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 21, 271–281.
WashingtonJ.CraigH. (1992). Performances of low-income, African American preschool and kindergarten children on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 23, 329–333.
38.
WilcoxM. J.MurphyK. M.BaconC. K.ThomasS. (2000November). Promoting use of language facilitation practices by Head Start teachers. Poster presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Washington, DC.
39.
WoodC. (2002). Parent–child pre–school activities can affect the development of literacy skills. Journal of Research in Reading, 25, 241–258.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
