Pathways from mothers' early social support to children's language development at age 3

Abstract

The relationships between early maternal social support, maternal psychological well-being, the home learning environment, and children's language skills at age 3 in Korean families were examined. We hypothesized that maternal social support would predict children's language development through its effect on maternal psychological well-being and the home learning environment. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the conceptual model, using data collected from 1,725 Korean families who participated in the Panel Study of Korean Children. Mothers' early social support predicted children's language skills via 2 indirect paths. First, greater social support predicted more positively adjusted psychological well-being; maternal psychological well-being was significantly associated with the quality of the home learning environment, which in turn predicted the positive development of language skills in children. Second, greater social support predicted a better home learning environment; again, the home learning environment positively predicted children's linguistic development. The direct paths from social support to language development were not significant. Social support during the child's infancy was observed to be beneficial for stimulating the home learning environment later. A comparison between working mothers versus nonworking mothers yielded no significant differences in the relationships between the variables. The results shed light on the importance of sensitive measures of social support in order to better understand its beneficial effects on mothers and young children. Highlights The relationships between early maternal social support, maternal psychological well-being, the home learning environment, and children's language skills at age 3 in Korean families were examined. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the conceptual model, using data collected from 1,725 Korean families who participated in the Panel Study of Korean Children. Greater social support predicted more positively adjusted psychological well-being; maternal psychological well-being was significantly associated with the quality of the home learning environment, which in turn predicted the positive development of language skills in children.