Relevance of Family Psychosocial Environment in the Language Development of Mexican Children

Abstract

In this section, we establish a research model that explores the association between the psycho-social environment of families with a low socioeconomic situation (SES) and the early development of children's (between the age of 0 and 12 months) language and communication traits. The main goals of this research were: (1) Measure the development delay by type of outcomes in relation to the expected development stage of children and (2) Describe the association between children's language acquisition categories (Perception, cognition, social interaction, communicative abilities and linguistic production) and their home environment, which was measured through HOME inventory. Methods and subjects: Prospective and cohort study of Mexican children that came from a low SES background and whose age were between 0 and 12 months. The measurement of the trait progress and environmental conditions was assessed through the CAT/CLAMS (Clinical Adaptive Test/Clinical Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale) and the PCD-R (Revised Behavior Profile Developmental Scale). Some of the tests covered areas of expressive and receptive language development, as well as some IT-HOME (Infant/Toddler Home Observation) items. In total, 612 children were assessed several times and 4442 language and communication development assessments were accrued. Lastly, we interpreted children's development level based on five language development categories. Results: The language acquisition categories were clustered in relevant factors that could be influenced by the socioeconomic family environment. Our results indicate that the analytical category that had a greater linkage with the family's psychosocial environment was the Social Interaction category. Moreover, Linguistic Production was the second analytical category that displayed a high correlative bond. As for the Perception and Communicative Abilities categories, these presented a lower statistical linkage, but important. On the other hand, the HOME scales showed a greater degree of association with the categories of communication and languages were Involvement (40%), Learning materials (28%), and Responsivity (25%) categories. Discussion: The relevance of the family's psychosocial environment in language development was displayed on this research. From their first month of life, children display visual, hearing and proprioceptive development as the basis for the development of their initial communicative manifestations and it was possible to show the effects of the socioeconomic environment on significant development delays. Additionally, we traced a high influence from the socioeconomic environment on children's perception, whereas the statistical significance was lower with the Cognition category. Further research needs to focus on other strategies to explore the latter category in depth. Conclusion: Even though there are significant ties between the family's psychosocial environment with language acquisition, more specific evaluation domains of language development are required to broaden the scrutiny regarding the impact of the family environment on language. Some home environment traits and other interactions were emphasized on this research, but other factors need to be studied further in order to corroborate our results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)