Higher Utilization of Social Services Is Associated with Higher Language Scores in Children from Deeply Impoverished Urban Families

Morgan A. Finkel, Sonya V. Troller-Renfree and Kimberly G. Noble
Additional contact information
Morgan A. Finkel: Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 622 West 168th St., VC 417, New York, NY 10032, USA
Sonya V. Troller-Renfree: Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 199, 525 West 120th St., New York, NY 10027, USA
Kimberly G. Noble: Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 199, 525 West 120th St., New York, NY 10027, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-9

Abstract: Language development has been consistently linked with socioeconomic status (SES), with children from lower SES backgrounds at higher risk for language delays. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between familial social service use and language development during the first year of life. Thirty-one low-income mothers and their infants were recruited from the New York metropolitan area. Mothers provided information about demographics and utilization of social services (Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing). Infant language skills were assessed using the Preschool Language Scale. Multiple linear regressions were used to investigate the relationship between social service use and language skills. We found that the number of social services utilized was not an overall significant linear predictor of language skills. However, social service use interacted with poverty level to predict language skills. Specifically, for families living in deep poverty, higher service use significantly predicted higher infant language scores (β = 3.4, p = 0.005). These results suggest that social services may be an appropriate target to help narrow socioeconomic disparities in language development.

Keywords: socioeconomic disparities; child development; social services; language development; infant development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8607/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8607/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8607-:d:447821

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().