Affiliation:
1. Department of Developmental Psychology University of Bamberg Bamberg Germany
2. Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories Bamberg Germany
3. Institute for Educational Quality Improvement Humboldt Universität zu Berlin Berlin Germany
Abstract
AbstractThis study explored whether the directionality of the relation between majority language and various facets of socioemotional development (three to 5 years old) differs between children with different language backgrounds. 12,951 children (49% girls; 85% White, 6% Pakistani and Bangladeshi, 3% Black, 3% Mix, 2% Indian) from the British Millennium Cohort Study (2001–2006) were included in two‐time‐point cross‐lagged analyses. Models controlling for important covariates found a bidirectional association for monolinguals (βs = .05, −.07, −.04), a unidirectional effect of majority language on socioemotional difficulties for dual language learners (DLLs) speaking English and minority language(s) at home (β = .14), and a unidirectional effect of socioemotional strength on majority language for DLLs speaking only minority language(s) at home (β = −.17).
Subject
Developmental and Educational Psychology,Education,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health