Sperry, Sperry, and Miller (2018) aim to debunk what is called the 30-million-word gap by claiming that children from lower income households hear more speech than Hart and Risley ([Hart, B., 1995]) reported. We address why the 30-million-word gap should not be abandoned, and the importance of retaining focus on the vital ingredient to language…

Amid growing controversy about the oft-cited "30-million-word gap," this investigation uses language data from five American communities across the socioeconomic spectrum to test, for the first time, Hart and Risley's (1995) claim that poor children hear 30 million fewer words than their middle-class counterparts during the early years…

This cluster-randomized controlled study examined dual language learners (DLLs) in Norway who received a book-based language intervention program. About 464 DLLs aged 3-5 years in 123 early childhood classrooms participated in the study. The children were acquiring Norwegian as their second language in preschool and spoke a variety of first…

Oral language development is a key outcome of elementary school, and it is important to identify factors that predict it most effectively. Commonly researchers use ordinary least squares regression with conclusions restricted to average performance conditional on relevant covariates. Quantile regression offers a more sophisticated alternative.…

One-quarter of the Head Start population has a mother who participated in the program as a child. This study uses experimental Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) data on 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 2,849) to describe multigenerational Head Start families and their program experiences. In sharp contrast to full-sample HSIS findings, Head Start has large,…

The present article reports results of a real-world effectiveness trial conducted in Denmark with six thousand four hundred eighty-three 3- to 6-year-olds designed to improve children's language and preliteracy skills. Children in 144 child cares were assigned to a control condition or one of three planned variations of a 20-week storybook-based…

Vocabulary knowledge was tested in a native (Cantonese-Chinese) and foreign (English) language in 150 twins and 150 singletons aged 6-11 years, matched on age, gender, grade level, nonverbal intelligence, parents' education, family income, and number of siblings and household members. The singletons clearly outperformed the twins on the native…

Findings are presented on a U.K. study of 41 gay father families, 40 lesbian mother families, and 49 heterosexual parent families with an adopted child aged 3-9 years. Standardized interview and observational and questionnaire measures of parental well-being, quality of parent-child relationships, child adjustment, and child sex-typed behavior…

This study examined the increase in salivary cortisol from midmorning to midafternoon in 151 children (3.0-4.5 years) in full-time home-based day care. Compared to cortisol levels at home, increases were noted in the majority of children (63%) at day care, with 40% classified as a stress response. Observations at day care revealed that intrusive,…

This study examined childhood antecedents and developmental outcomes associated with trajectories of mild and harsh parental physical discipline. Interview, questionnaire, and observational data were available from 499 children followed from ages 5 to 16 and from 258 children in an independent sample followed from ages 5 to 15. Analyses indicated…

Investigated effects of a year-long home intervention with a sample of preterm infants randomly assigned to one of three groups: developmental intervention, parent/infant intervention, and a no-treatment control. A full-term no-treatment control was also used. Findings confirm earlier studies and demonstrate changes in behavior and behavioral…

The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory and the Rheingold and Cook Checklist were respectively used to assess the home environments of children whose mothers were married/working, married/nonworking, or divorced/working. (Author/MP)

Estimates the extent to which heredity influences perceptions of childhood family environment in a sample of 58 monozygotic and 46 dizygotic pairs of adult twins who were reared apart. The data confirm the importance of genetic factors in some, but not all, measures of family environment. Environmental influences were more important than genetic…

Compares the expression of affect towards parents of 8- to 11-year-old children raised in one of three environments: kibbutz children raised communally with peers, kibbutz children raised in families, and city children raised in traditional families. (SS)

Identifies the socioeconomic, demographic, and attitudinal correlates of neighborhood differences in the rate of child abuse and neglect, by comparing families in a high risk and a low risk neighborhood matched for socioeconomic level. (CM)