The relationship of parenting stress and child …...Shore, 1997). It is thought that temperament inﬂuences the development of joint attention and its relationship to children’s

The relationship of parenting stress and childtemperament to language development amongeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers

MELANIE NOEL CAROLE PETERSON

AND BEULAH JESSO

Memorial University of Newfoundland

(Received 23 July 2007 Revised 12 October 2007)

ABSTRACT

Oral language skills in the preschool years are predictive of childrenrsquos

later reading success and literacy acquisition and among these language

skills vocabulary and narrative ability play important roles Children

from low socioeconomic families face risks to their language develop-

ment and because of threats to these skills it is important to identify

factors that promote their development among high-risk groups This

preliminary study explored two potential factors that may be related

to language skills in 56 low SES motherndashchild dyads (children aged

28ndash410) namely child temperament and parenting stress Results

showed that child temperament and parenting stress were related to

childrenrsquos oral language skills Child temperament characteristics that

would likely aid social interaction were related to narrative ability and

children rated high on emotionality had poorer receptive vocabulary

skills Parenting stress was related to childrenrsquos receptive and expressive

vocabulary skills Results are interpreted in terms of the possible

mediating role of parentndashchild interactions in childrenrsquos oral language

skill development and future directions for family intervention are

discussed

[] Preparation of this article was primarily supported by Grant 27020400 from theCanadian Language and Literacy Research Network Additional funding came fromboth CIHR and NLCAHR masterrsquos fellowships Memorial University UndergraduateCareer Experience Program the Student Work and Service Program Summer CareerPlacement Program and the Summer NSERC Undergraduate Fellowship program Weextend our thanks to the interviewers transcribers and data analyzers who participatedMost of all we thank the parents and children who allowed us into their homes andcooperated so helpfully Address for correspondence Carole Peterson PsychologyDepartment St Johnrsquos Newfoundland Canada A1B 3X9 Phone 709-737-7682 Fax 709-737-2430 E-mail carolemunca

J Child Lang 35 (2008) 823ndash843 f 2008 Cambridge University Press

doi101017S0305000908008805 Printed in the United Kingdom

823

terms of use available at httpswwwcambridgeorgcoreterms httpsdoiorg101017S0305000908008805Downloaded from httpswwwcambridgeorgcore IP address 541914080 on 09 Jul 2017 at 121254 subject to the Cambridge Core

Children from low socioeconomic families face risks to their literacy

development and academic success It is well recognized that childrenrsquos

language abilities at formal school entry lay an important foundation for

literacy and that how readily children acquire this crucial academic skill

is partly predicted by the various language skills that they bring to the

task These skills are commonly seen as falling into two main categories

code-related skills and oral language skills (Storch amp Whitehurst 2002)

Code-related skills such as phonological awareness are particularly

important at the initial phases of learning to read but oral language skills

become increasingly important as children move past the code-breaking

phase into learning how to read fluently and comprehending what they

read This preliminary report focuses on two oral language skills that have

been identified as independently contributing to the success of childrenrsquos

literacy achievement specifically vocabulary and productive narrative

skills We first summarize research showing the important predictive role

of these two language skills in literacy attainment by children and then

explore a couple of factors that potentially affect these language skills

child temperament and parenting stress Importantly this report focuses

on a high-risk group namely low-income children These children are

at considerably increased risk for poor literacy achievement and school

failure and thus it is particularly important to understand not only

what language skills that they bring to the task of learning to read but

also what factors affect these skills The present study looks at a sample

of economically disadvantaged preschoolers prior to a larger language

intervention

Socioeconomic status

Children living in poverty face heightened risks to their cognitive

development as compared to their non-poor counterparts (for a review see

Bradley amp Corwyn 2002) In fact economic disadvantage is predictive of

childrenrsquos cognitive abilities even with the effects of maternal education

controlled (Smith Brooks-Gunn amp Klebanov 1997) It is thought that

poverty affects childrenrsquos development because economic disadvantage

increases family stressors creates psychological distress and impairs the

quality of parentndashchild interactions (McLoyd 1998) Children exposed to

poverty earlier in life are more likely to have poorer achievement as

compared to those exposed to economic disadvantage later in life (Duncan

amp Brooks-Gunn 2000) Moreover children who face chronic as opposed

to transitory economic disadvantage perform poorer on measures of

school-readiness and language skills (NICHD Early Child Care Research

Network 2005a) Other research has also documented a link between low

socioeconomic status (SES) and poorer preliteracy skills (Peterson 1994

NOEL ET AL

824


Rescorla amp Alley 2001) Because of the importance of early literacy

development for childrenrsquos later academic and life achievement it is important

to locate factors that affect early language development among economically

disadvantaged children

Vocabulary

It is well established that childrenrsquos vocabulary ability is a crucial precursor

to their later reading comprehension (Storch amp Whitehurst 2002)

Childrenrsquos vocabulary at formal school entry is one of the best predictors

of reading comprehension in the third and fourth grade (Senechal Ouellette

amp Rodney 2005 Storch amp Whitehurst 2002) and has been linked to

reading success into the eighth grade (Wood Hill Meyer amp Flowers 2005)

It is also well documented that children from lower SES backgrounds

develop their vocabularies at slower rates than children from higher SES

backgrounds (Rescorla amp Alley 2001) Because children of lower socio-

economic status face threats to their vocabulary development and later

literacy it is important to identify factors that affect these skills particularly

among financially deprived families Moreover given that the prediction of

literacy is more accurate when other oral language skills are considered in

addition to vocabulary (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network

2005b) the present study focuses on both vocabulary and narrative ability

and two factors that potentially affect these skills child temperament and

parenting stress

Narrative ability

Narrative skills are distinct from vocabulary knowledge (McCabe

Peterson amp Conners 2006 Peterson 1994 Storch and Whitehurst

2002) although narrative abilities have also been found to predict

childrenrsquos later literacy development (Paul amp Smith 1993 Tabors Snow

amp Dickinson 2001) and vary as a function of SES (Peterson 1994) In

a longitudinal study of narrative skill and reading comprehension

narrative ability in kindergarten significantly predicted childrenrsquos reading

comprehension into the seventh grade (Tabors et al 2001) Likewise

Paul and Smith (1993) found narrative ability to be one of the best

predictors of childrenrsquos literacy acquisition and school success Narrative

ability has also been found to correlate strongly with prereading skills

(Dickinson amp Snow 1987) Every child enters school with discourse

skills that have been influenced by the community that they inhabit and

as such not all childrenrsquos skills are suitably matched to the discourse

requirements of their school (Dickinson amp McCabe 1991) Children

cannot learn effectively when their skills do not match the expectations

THE RELATIONSHIP OF PARENTING

825


of their teachers and as a result teachers have been shown to be

considerably less successful with these children (Michaels 1991) Perhaps

the most disturbing finding relevant to this mismatch in skills is that of

Roth (1986) who found that children who do not possess these expected

skills are more likely to be defined as learning disabled Thus there is

a need to bring these children to the skill level consistent with the

assumption teachers already have of them by kindergarten otherwise

they may fall victim to poor performance damaging labels and self-

fulfilling prophecies

Child temperament

Aspects of childrenrsquos temperament have been found to be predictive of

their academic achievement cognitive abilities and language development

This was demonstrated in a study by Coplan and colleagues (1999) on the

role of child temperament as a predictor of literacy and numeracy skills

in preschoolers Specifically children who scored higher on measures of

attention span and lower on activity level and negative emotionality also

tended to score higher on measures of early literacy counting and numeracy

skills Furthermore these temperament characteristics uniquely contributed

to preschoolersrsquo literacy and numeracy skills over and above well-

established factors of achievement such as parental education child gender

and vocabulary These findings add further empirical support to the

notion of temperament as a predictor of childrenrsquos cognitive abilities and as

a mediating factor in their learning (Matheny 1989) It appears that

children who are able to sit still (lower activity level) demonstrate a high

attention span and are not easily aroused and upset (lower emotionality)

are more likely to acquire the cognitive skills necessary for academic

success

Likewise other researchers have documented links between temperament

characteristics and childrenrsquos cognitive abilities Miller (2000) in her

retrospective study of temperament as a moderating influence on

preschoolersrsquo educational achievement found temperament characteristics

at kindergarten entry were related to later school achievement She

longitudinally studied at-risk preschoolers from low SES backgrounds and

examined the relationship between parent-rated child temperament and

school achievement in grades 1 4 and 7 She found that the temperament

characteristics of intensity distractibility and adaptability were significantly

related to first-grade achievement These temperament qualities were

associated with childrenrsquos reading and math scores even with the effects

of ability controlled Hence these correlations are consistent with a model

in which temperament is presumed to influence childrenrsquos cognitive

development

NOEL ET AL

826


There is also considerable empirical support for the relationship between

child temperament and early language development (Dixon amp Smith 2000)

Morales and colleagues (2000) examined the relationship between language

and early child temperament in a longitudinal study with infants (aged

06ndash10) Their results showed that dimensions of temperament (orienting

soothability smiling and laughter) were related to childrenrsquos receptive

vocabulary at 19 a finding that is consistent with the results of other studies

that examined the link between temperament and early language (Dixon amp

Shore 1997) It is thought that temperament influences the development of

joint attention and its relationship to childrenrsquos language (Mundy amp Gomes

1998) Salley and Dixon (2007) recently found an inverse relationship

between aspects of temperamental difficulty (low executive control and high

negative affect) and language development among children at 19 They also

found that infants who rated high on negative affect showed low levels

of joint attention These findings suggest that temperament influences

childrenrsquos language development and parentndashchild interactions from very

early in life

Parenting stress

Parenting stress is also associated with a host of adverse cognitive and

behavioral outcomes among children (Crnic amp Low 2002) It seems to be a

multifactorial concept that involves the parent child and the context within

which parentndashchild interactions occur (Abidin 1995) Particularly in the

preschool period parenting and its associated responsibilities generally

create high levels of stress (Kuczynski amp Koeske 1990 as cited in

Guthermuth-Anthony Anthony Glanville Naiman Waanders amp Shaffer

2005) Although there is some evidence supporting a direct link between

parenting stress and child outcomes (Crnic Gaze amp Hoffman 2005

Guthermuth-Anthony et al 2005) most research provides evidence for

an indirect effect which is mediated by parenting behavior and the quality

of parentndashchild interactions (Crnic amp Low 2002) It is not stress in

itself that affects children but rather stress seems to affect parentndashchild

interactions which in turn affects the quality of childrenrsquos developmental

functioning across social affective and cognitive domains (Crnic amp Low

2002) Furthermore higher parenting stress has been associated with

more parental reports of difficult child temperament which is a salient

factor involved in literacy development (Keogh 2003) Hence parenting

stress should not be viewed as an entirely environmental variable but

rather a phenomenon that is likely substantially influenced by child

characteristics

Child temperament has been identified as a factor involved in the

relationship between stress and child outcomes This was illustrated in a


827


study conducted by Rende and Plomin (1992) on the relations between first-

grade stress temperament and behavior problems Their results suggested

that aspects of childrenrsquos temperament can act as a protective factor to

buffer the detrimental effects of stress They found interactions between

stress and temperamental characteristics in predicting externalizing

behavioral problems In particular children who were rated on the EAS

Temperament Survey (Buss amp Plomin 1984) as being less emotional and

active and more sociable also demonstrated more positive responses to

stress Hence temperament was thought to play a role in determining how

a child actually responds to stress

Parenting stress and child temperament were examined by Calkins and

colleagues (2004) in their study of mothersrsquo interactions with infants

who had different degrees of frustrated temperaments They found that

maternal physical stimulation was predicted by an interaction between

infant temperament and mothersrsquo reported parenting stress Specifically

mothers of less frustrated infants provided more physical stimulation

than mothers of easily frustrated infants under conditions of low or

moderate parenting stress However mothers who reported high

parenting stress provided low levels of physical stimulation regardless

of child temperament That is highly stressed mothers of both less

frustrated and easily frustrated infants provided low levels of physical

stimulation Hence parenting stress seems to affect children by

impairing parentndashchild interactions and lowering maternal responsiveness

Moreover these results imply a need to assess both temperament and

parenting stress together in order to gain a clear picture of how either

variable affects the parentndashchild dynamic and consequently child

outcomes

Hypotheses

Although child temperament and parenting stress are both related to

childrenrsquos cognitive abilities and academic achievement less is known about

the specific language skills that they affect Due to the importance of

language skills for literacy development it is imperative to identify factors

that promote these skills especially among at-risk children prior to school

entry The present preliminary study assesses how child temperament

and parenting stress relate to preschool-aged childrenrsquos vocabulary and

productive narrative ability among an economically disadvantaged sample

prior to intervention Specifically we hypothesize that children with easier

temperaments (high sociability low activity and low emotionality) will have

more advanced oral language skills as will children whose parents report

less parenting stress

NOEL ET AL

828


METHOD

Participants

Participants were 56 preschoolers and their mothers from economically

disadvantaged backgrounds (33 girls and 25 boys mean age=40

SD=625 range=28ndash410) All children had English as their first

language resided in urban settings and were Caucasian They were a

homogeneous sample of low SES individuals as all of the children were

enrolled in government-subsidized daycares or partook in subsidized

community center programs Participants were recruited in preschools

daycares and community centers that provide services for children

from low-SES backgrounds Economic disadvantage was defined as

individuals who receive financial subsidy from the provincial government

(lsquoIncome Support Assistancersquo) All of the motherndashchild dyads in this

study fell into this category as verified by daycare and community center

personnel

Measures

Expressive and receptive vocabulary Childrenrsquos vocabulary was assessed

with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (3rd edition PPVT Dunn

amp Dunn 1997) and the Expressive Vocabulary Test (1st edition EVT

Williams 1997) The PPVT assesses receptive language and has been

shown to have good testndashretest reliability (r=092 Dunn amp Dunn 1997)

The EVT assesses expressive vocabulary and also shows good testndashretest

reliability (ranging from r=077 to r=099 Williams 1997)

Productive narrative ability The following narrative properties were

assessed (see Data coding section for examples)

(a) NARRATIVE LENGTH This was measured by both the total number of

words in the narrative and the overall number of subjectndashpredicate

clauses

(b) ELABORATION This measure indicates how descriptive the narratives

were Descriptive vividness was measured by the number of adjectives

and adverbs including their repetitions (also temporal location

emotion and cognitive terms)

(c) COHESION This was measured by the number of interclausal connectives

in the narrative It is an indicator of how smoothly and intricately

the narrative was knit together

(d) COHERENCE This indicates the narrativersquos overall organizational

structure that is how events were temporally and causally linked

(causalconditional and temporal linking terms)

(e) INFORMATIVENESS This was measured by the total amount of information

provided that was both new and unique


829


Temperament To assess aspects of the child temperament parents

completed the EAS Temperament Survey for Children Parental Ratings

(Buss amp Plomin 1984) This short 20-item measure assesses four aspects of

temperament emotionality activity sociability and shyness Emotionality

refers to the tendency to become intensely and easily aroused it is a global

pattern of distress among young infants that later evolves into fearful and

angry tendencies with age Activity refers to the childrsquos speed of action and

preferred level of activity Sociability describes the childrsquos tendency to

prefer the presence of others as opposed to being alone Conversely shyness

refers to a tendency to display awkwardness and inhibition in new social

contexts

Each item on the EAS is rated on a scale from 1 (not characteristic

of your child) to 5 (very characteristic of your child) with five items

representing each of the four temperament dimensions Moreover the

measure is well suited to the present sample as it is recommended for

one- to nine-year-olds In research on one- to four-year-olds the measure

was shown to have moderately high internal consistency (average alpha

coefficient for four-year-olds=070 Mathiesen amp Tambs 1999) Likewise

it showed high stability from one measurement to the next (stability

coefficients ranged from 068ndash079 Mathiesen amp Tambs 1999) Other

research has also found the EAS scales to have high internal consistency

and inter-rater agreement among elementary school aged children (Boer amp

Westenberg 1994)

Parenting stress Parents also completed the Parenting Stress Index ndash short

form (3rd edition PSI-SF Abidin 1995) which is a measure of stress

occurring within the parentndashchild system and regarding their role as

parents The PSI-SF consists of three subscales Parental Distress Parentndash

Child Dysfunctional Interaction and Difficult Child Each subscale is

comprised of twelve items rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to

5 (strongly agree) for a possible range of 12ndash60 for each subscale score To

obtain a Total Stress score (the specific stress score assessed in the present

study) the three subscales were combined to produce a score that could

range from 36ndash180 Higher PSI-SF Total Stress scores indicate greater

levels of stress Total stress on the full length PSI correlated 094 with

PSI-SF total stress Hence the PSI-SF is a brief but psychometrically

soundmeasure that is comparable to the longer form fromwhich it is adapted

It has also been shown to have good to excellent internal consistency in a

low-income Head Start population (Reitman Currier amp Stickle 2002)

Procedure

Upon agreeing to participate parents signed a consent form documenting

this and permitting the researcher to audiotape their child Interviews took

NOEL ET AL

830


place in the participantsrsquo homes where one researcher completed the parent

measures with the mother while another (in a separate room) individually

conversed with the child conducted vocabulary assessments and elicited

narratives Parents completed a demographic questionnaire the PSI-SF

and the EAS For the child the PPVT and EVT were administered first

to help build rapport before narrative elicitation Narratives were elicited

by incorporating standardized lists of a dozen narrative prompts into play

interactions with the children such as lsquoOne time I fell down and bumped

my head Did you ever fall down and hurt yourself rsquo lsquoLast weekend I went

to a birthday party Have you ever gone to a birthday partyrsquo Once the

child began narrating about a specific topic the researcher encouraged

elaboration through backchannel responses such as lsquoyeahrsquo lsquouh-huhrsquo

lsquoandrsquo lsquo tell me morersquo Such responding techniques have been shown to

eliminate experimenter-generated structure while encouraging the child to

continue narrating (Peterson amp McCabe 1983) Once a child introduced

a new story or indicated that they had nothing more to say about a

given topic the interviewer moved on and began eliciting a different

narrative The number of narratives that children produced ranged

from six to ten Childrenrsquos narratives were audio-recorded and transcribed

verbatim

Data coding

Each interview was subdivided into complete narratives of which the three

longest (with respect to clause count) were analyzed This was done based

on Peterson and McCabersquos (1983) research demonstrating that narrative

length from preschoolers is an excellent measure of narrative ability

Narrative properties of length elaboration cohesion coherence and

informativeness were assessed all of which were adapted from the extensive

coding system outlined by Peterson and Roberts (2003) This scoring

procedure has been successfully used in previous research involving

childrenrsquos narratives (eg Fivush Haden amp Reese 2006 McCabe et al

2006 Peterson Jesso amp McCabe 1999) The narratives were subdivided

as follows

Elements of length An important property of narratives is how long they

are Length was measured by

(a) WORD COUNT ie the total number of words in the narrative

(b) CLAUSE COUNT a clause was considered to be a subjectndashpredicate

proposition

Elements of elaboration Childrenrsquos narratives are often more than a

simple account of what happened through the provision of new information

they often elaborate and repeat information for emphasis Therefore in the


831


following section a word was counted and coded each time it was

produced

(a) DESCRIPTORS ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS (eg my shirt was blue)

(b) TIME (eg yesterday one time once etc)

(c) LOCATION (eg I went to Ottawa)

(d) EMOTION (eg I was a little bit scared on the waterslide)

(e) COGNITION (eg I knew that I shouldnrsquot go outside)

Elements of cohesion Narratives include events that must be smoothly

woven together Hence cohesion was measured by the amount of

linguistically explicit links that specified how events were related to each

other interclausally

(a) CONNECTIVES Connectives are defined as any word that joins two

clauses together eg and but or (excluding those implying cause

or condition as well as temporal terms and causal connectives ndash see

coherence below)

Elements of coherence Narratives are essentially about a series of

temporally and causally linked events The organizational coherence of

a narrative was measured by the amount of linguistically explicit links

that specified how events were related to each other temporally causally or

conditionally Thus coherence was measured by the following elements

(a) CAUSALCONDITIONAL CONNECTIVES These are words that link two

causally or conditionally connected events (eg because so while until)

(b) TEMPORAL TERMS These are defined as terms which temporally link

things together (eg first next later before after)

Elements of informativeness This measures the information the child

provides that is new and different that is how informative the narrative

is For example if a child said lsquoIt was a big big big partyrsquo the attribute

lsquobigrsquo would be scored only once whereas in terms of elaboration (described

above) it would be scored three times Each instance of a word is scored

only once The present study focused on the total unique units of infor-

mation which is the sum of the following subcategories of information

(a) PERSON (eg Jenny was at my party)

(b) OBJECT (eg I had a band-aid on my foot)

(c) ACTIVITY (eg I was shouting to my brother)

(d) ATTRIBUTES This element differs from descriptors only in the fact that

each instance of a word is counted only once (eg the sky was a bright

red )

(e) LOCATION (eg She was in Cuba)

(f) EMOTION (eg I was happy to go to see my nanny)

NOEL ET AL

832


(g) COGNITION (eg I was allowed to go to Freddiersquos house)

(h) TIME (eg Yesterday I went to the park)

RESULTS

Expressive and receptive vocabulary

Expressive and receptive vocabulary was measured with the EVT and the

PPVT respectively The means standard deviations and ranges are shown

in Table 1 The mean expressive vocabulary score on the EVT was 9955

corresponding to an age equivalent of 311 Children had an average

receptive vocabulary score on the PPVT of 9865 corresponding to an age

equivalent of 310

Narrative ability

Scores for childrenrsquos three longest narratives (in terms of number of clauses)

were averaged and used in the analyses (see means and standard deviations in

Table 2) The mean number of clauses per narrative was 1111 Some types

of elaboration were more frequent than others participants used many

more descriptor words (M=456) per narrative than references to emotion

(M=052) or cognition (M=021) The average number of unique units of

informationwas 1470 withwords referring to activities (verbs) used themost

(M=464) while references to cognition were least common (M=019)

Temperament and parenting stress

Temperament was measured with the EAS and parenting stress was

measured with the PSI-SF The means standard deviations and ranges

TABLE 1 Mean scores (and standard deviations) on measures of vocabulary

and parent reported measures of child temperament and parenting stress

(N=56)

VariableMean (SD) Threelongest (N=56) Range

VocabularyEVT (expressive) 9955 (1227) 6700ndash12400PPVT (receptive) 9865 (1213) 6300ndash11700

Child temperamentEAS activity 412 (082) 180ndash500EAS sociability 371 (066) 240ndash500EAS shyness 238 (083) 100ndash420EAS emotionality 280 (089) 100ndash500

Parenting stressPSI-SF 8300 (2126) 4200ndash14900


833


are shown in Table 1 Across temperament subscales the means for

each temperament dimension was around 3 with low standard deviations

Thus on average parents did not rate their children as having extreme

temperaments Overall children were rated as being highly active (M=412) and sociable (M=371)

The average PSI-SF total stress score across all mothers was 8300

indicating that the average stress level experienced within the mothersrsquo role

as a parent fell within the 83rd percentile Since a total stress score of 90

indicates clinically significant levels of stress (warranting closer diagnostic

studies and professional assistance Abidin 1995) and our total stress

scores ranged from 4200 to 14900 the sample widely varied on and

represented both extremes of the total parenting stress dimension

The correlations between the EAS dimensions and the total PSI-SF

score are shown in Table 3 Child temperament was significantly related to

parenting stress Parents who rated their children as being highly emotional

also rated themselves as experiencing higher levels of parenting stress

(r=042 plt001)

TABLE 2 Mean number of occurrences of each narrative variable measured

(and standard deviations) for the three longest narratives (N=56)

Variable Mean (SD)Three longest

(N=56)

Length Narrative length 5576 (2701)Clauses 1111 (449)

ElaborationDescriptors 456 (302)Time 071 (076)Location 172 (115)Emotion 052 (111)Cognition 021 (033)

CohesionConnectives 432 (302)

Coherence CausalConditional connectives 031 (043)Temporal terms 127 (156)

Informativeness (unique units information) Person 157 (095)Object 259 (127)Activity 464 (204)Attributes 354 (226)Location 127 (077)Cognition 019 (026)Time 058 (056)

NOEL ET AL

834


A second scorer scored fourteen of the participantsrsquo EAS and PSI-SF

measures (25) for reliability purposes Inter-rater correlations for the EAS

and the PSI-SF were both 100

Relations between temperament and vocabulary

The bivariate correlations between the EAS temperament subscales and the

PPVT and EVT measures are shown in Table 4 Temperament showed no

relationship with expressive language ability suggesting that childrenrsquos

ability to produce synonyms is not affected by how sociable active or

emotional they are However childrenrsquos receptive vocabulary was signifi-

cantly related to emotionality Children who were rated as being highly

emotional were less likely to perform well on the PPVT (r=x033

plt005)

Relations between temperament and narrative ability

The bivariate correlations between child temperament subscales and

narrative properties are shown in Table 5 In particular child emotionality

TABLE 4 Bivariate correlations between parent-reported temperament (EAS)

and parenting stress (PSI-SF) and receptive (PPVT) and expressive

(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT

Child EASActivity 012 (p=0385) 017 (p=0212)Sociability 006 (p=0650) 001 (p=0948)Emotionality x033 (p=0016) x019 (p=0171)Shyness x003 (p=0806) x005 (p=0725)

PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)

NOTE All correlations significant at p=005 are labeled with asterisk ()

TABLE 3 Bivariate correlations between parent-reported child temperament

(EAS) and total parenting stress (PSI-SF)

Measures PSI-SF

Child EASActivity x022 (p=0113)Sociability x020 (p=0153)Emotionality 042 (p=0002)Shyness 024 (p=0086)



835


was negatively related to both length of the narratives and amount of

description that the child provided Child emotionality was negatively

related to the total number of words in the narratives (r=x030 plt005)

children who were higher in emotionality provided shorter narratives Also

highly emotional children did not use many descriptors and were therefore

less elaborative in their narratives (r=x038 plt001) High scores on this

temperament subscale were also related to fewer total unique terms (r=x032 plt005) Thus children who were rated to be higher in emotionality

also tended to provide less informative narratives

Child sociability was positively correlated with overall narrative length

(r=028 plt005) and number of connectives (r=040 plt001) Thus

children rated as higher in sociability were more likely to produce longer

and more cohesive narratives

Interestingly child activity levels were positively related to the number of

terms mentioned related to time (r=030 plt005) That is children rated

as being highly active were more likely to use specific time references in

their narratives These childrenrsquos narratives were more contextually

embedded in time and were therefore more elaborative

Relations between parenting stress vocabulary and narrative ability

The bivariate correlations between the PSI-SF and the PPVT and EVT

measures are shown in Table 4 Childrenrsquos expressive vocabulary was

TABLE 5 Bivariate correlations between the Child EAS subscales and the

narrative properties

Properties Emotionality Activity Sociability

LengthWord count x030 (p=0027) 012 (p=0394) 028 (p=0038)Clauses x022 (p=0103) 007 (p=0602) 023 (p=0086)

CohesionConnectives x024 (p=0074) 012 (p=0368) 040 (p=0003)

CoherenceTemporals x012 (p=0367) 008 (p=0553) 019 (p=0163)Causals x025 (p=0063) 004 (p=0774) 009 (p=0530)

ElaborationAttributes x038 (p=0004) 010 (p=0454) 017 (p=0228)Time x009 (p=0527) 030 (p=0028) 014 (p=0317)Location x017 (p=0209) x002 (p=0899) 001 (p=0927)Emotion x023 (p=0094) x014 (p=0322) 008 (p=0580)Cognition x004 (p=0767) 025 (p=0070) 024 (p=0084)

InformativenessTotal unique x032 (p=0016) 009 (p=0536) 025 (p=0064)

NOTE Correlations significant at p=005 are labeled with an asterisk ()

NOEL ET AL

836


significantly related to their mothersrsquo reported parenting stress parents

reporting higher levels of stress had children with poorer expressive

vocabularies (r=x029 plt005) Likewise childrenrsquos receptive vocabularies

were significantly related to their motherrsquos reported parenting stress

parents reporting higher levels of parenting stress had children who demon-

strated poorer receptive vocabularies (r=x032 plt005) Interestingly

parenting stress showed no relationship with any aspect of narrative

ability

Summary

Child temperament was related to parenting stress such that mothers

who rated their children as being highly emotional also rated themselves as

having high levels of parenting stress Child temperament was also related

to receptive vocabulary and narrative ability Highly emotional children

exhibited poorer receptive vocabularies and also shorter less descriptive

and less informative narratives Highly sociable children tended to produce

narratives that were longer and more cohesive Children who were rated as

being highly active tended to produce more elaborative narratives that

were contextually embedded in time Parenting stress was related to both

childrenrsquos expressive and receptive vocabularies Mothers who reported

high levels of parenting stress had children with poorer expressive and

receptive vocabularies Conversely parenting stress was not related to any

aspect of childrenrsquos narrative ability

DISCUSSION

The results of this preliminary study support the prediction that child

temperament is related to childrenrsquos language skills among economically

disadvantaged preschoolers Child temperament was related to childrenrsquos

receptive (although not expressive) vocabulary children rated as low on

emotionality tended to score higher on a measure of receptive vocabulary

In terms of narrative skills less emotional and highly sociable children

demonstrated advanced narrative skills compared to their more emotional

and less sociable counterparts Children rated as low on emotionality

produced longer more descriptive and more informative narratives and

highly sociable children tended to produce narratives that were longer and

more cohesive

Although parenting stress was also related to childrenrsquos language skills

the pattern of relationships was quite different Children of parents who

rated themselves as having low levels of parenting stress performed better

on measures of both expressive and receptive vocabulary However these

children did not exhibit more advanced narrative skills Taken together this


837


preliminary study suggests that economically disadvantaged children with

easier temperaments promoting social interaction and who have parents

who perceive low levels of parenting stress have more advanced oral

language skills While both child temperament and parenting stress are

related to language skills the nature of their relationship to these skills

differs Temperament seems to be more related to narrative ability and

receptive vocabulary whereas parenting stress is linked to childrenrsquos

vocabulary both receptive and expressive

Child temperament

Although temperament was related to many aspects of narrative ability

childrenrsquos emotionality was the only measured temperament dimension that

was significantly related to vocabulary Specifically children rated as highly

emotional tended to exhibit less advanced receptive vocabulary skills None

of the temperament dimensions were related to the childrenrsquos expressive

vocabulary skills This is surprising in light of past research that revealed

clear relationships between aspects of childrenrsquos temperaments and their

vocabulary skills (Dixon amp Smith 2000 Morales et al 2000 Salley amp

Dixon 2007) However childrenrsquos narrative ability and vocabulary

competence are qualitatively different and are sometimes not related to

each other (McCabe et al 2006 Peterson 1994) In a study of low-income

children Peterson (1994) found that they had relatively poor-quality

narratives with little new information while their receptive language abilities

were well within the normal range for their age It seems that childrenrsquos

ability to acquire and recognize new vocabulary words is different from

their ability to create coherent cohesive and elaborative narratives

Moreover since narrative ability is related to later literacy and school

success (Paul amp Smith 1993) and vocabulary is also related to later reading

comprehension (Senechal et al 2005) childrenrsquos temperament is both an

important risk factor and predictor of later learning Additionally it is an

indicator of a preschoolerrsquos readiness for the school arena

Previous research has established a link between childrenrsquos temperament

and early literacy Coplan and colleagues (1999) found that childrenrsquos

performance in the academic domain is related to aspects of their tem-

perament Specifically children who scored lower on negative emotionality

also tended to score higher on measures of early literacy Furthermore

these temperament characteristics uniquely contributed to the preschoolersrsquo

literacy skills over and above well-established factors of achievement such

as parental education child gender and vocabulary The findings of the

present study add further empirical support to the notion of temperament

as a predictor of childrenrsquos cognitive abilities and extend these findings to

include narrative and receptive vocabulary skills

NOEL ET AL

838


Why might child temperament be related to narrative ability The

specific temperament aspects that were found to be important all foster

positive parentndashchild interactions Narrative skills are built through

elaborative parentndashchild conversations early in development and are directly

related to the quality of these interactions (Fivush et al 2006 Peterson amp

McCabe 2004) In these conversations parents encourage their children

to talk extensively about each event being discussed They stay on topic and

help their children develop their verbal reconstructions of each memory

Through appropriate scaffolding they also teach their children what type

of information should be included and how that information should be

organized (Fivush et al 2006 Peterson amp McCabe 2004) In other words

these conversations extend across time as well as take place frequently A

child who easily becomes frustrated or is prone to emotional displays and is

less sociable is unlikely to encourage the kind of interactions that foster the

development of narrative and vocabulary skills Given that narrative ability

and vocabulary emerges within the context of parentndashchild interactions it

is likely that the relationship between child temperament and these oral

language skills are mediated by the quality of these interactions

Parenting stress

Among the economically disadvantaged preschoolers in the present study

parenting stress was related to both expressive and receptive vocabulary

Children of parents reporting lower levels of parenting stress tended to have

more advanced expressive and receptive language skills The results suggest

that parenting stress is tied to early expressive and receptive vocabulary

competence and is not related to early narrative ability Previous research

has shown that childrenrsquos vocabulary measured at formal school entry is

one of the best predictors of reading comprehension in grades three and

four (Senechal et al 2005 Storch amp Whitehurst 2002) and even as far into

the future as the eighth grade (Wood et al 2005) Hence parenting stress

appears to be an important factor in childrenrsquos expressive and receptive

language skills and in their later reading comprehension

The quality of parentndashchild interactions may also mediate the relationship

between parenting stress and childrenrsquos vocabulary ability Parenting stress

is an important predictor of parentndashchild behavior and dyadic interaction

such that higher parenting stress is associated with less dyadic pleasure

(Crnic et al 2005) Motherndashchild interactions are related to levels of

parenting stress and the quality of this dynamic has been found to be the

biggest predictor of childrenrsquos cognitive development over and above that

of the school and child-care environments (NICHD Early Child Care

Research Network 2005c) Moreover the rate of childrenrsquos vocabulary

development is related to how their mothers talk to them (Hoff amp Naigles


839


2002) For example children who acquire more extensive vocabularies

have parents who take the time to label objects in the environment and

describe their attributes in nuanced ways (Hart amp Risley 1995) Parentndash

child interactions are impaired among highly stressed mothers and

vocabulary development occurs within the context of these interactions It

is likely that highly stressed mothers do not have the kinds of conversations

and interactions that foster vocabulary

Conversely higher parenting stress was not significantly related to lower

scores on any of the narrative properties studied This is unexpected given

the wealth of literature documenting both direct and indirect links between

higher parenting stress and poorer cognitive outcomes among children

(Crnic et al 2005 Crnic amp Low 2002) However previous research has

not specifically looked at the relationship between parenting stress and

narrative ability and different sorts of parentndashchild interactive contexts

foster narrative skill development versus vocabulary acquisition Learning

new words requires frequent parentndashchild conversations that label describe

and provide explanations In contrast learning narrative skills requires

extended conversational exchanges where parents encourage children to

provide information on the who where and when of the event under

discussion develop the sequence of actions (with appropriate temporal and

causal links) provide emotional reactions to and evaluation of those events

and bring the entire narrative to a conclusion

It is also important to consider the limitations inherent in research using

a small sample size such as the one assessed in the present study Due to the

relatively small number of participants we were unable to explore possible

mediating effects and interactions As such the generalizability of the

present findings is limited and future research is needed to clearly define

the relationship between these parent and child factors and their important

relationship to childrenrsquos early language development Moreover although

this study only focused on a homogeneous sample of low-SES preschoolers

it is likely that similar underlying mechanisms affect the language abilities

of preschoolers from other SES distributions Future research is needed to

explore the relationship between these parent and child factors and early

language development among preschoolers from other SES backgrounds

Intervention

The present study provides a preliminary glimpse at where economically

disadvantaged preschoolersrsquo vocabulary narrative skills temperaments and

mothersrsquo parenting stress lie prior to intervention The results suggest that

child temperament is related to narrative ability and receptive vocabulary

and parenting stress is related to both expressive and receptive vocabulary

Future research will reveal whether fostering proactive ways of interacting

NOEL ET AL

840


with children in turn improves their preliteracy skills Peterson and

colleagues (1999) found one-on-one intervention to be effective at improving

both vocabulary and narrative skills and future research will extend this

intervention to group settings with the expectation that children will show a

similar improvement in these oral language skillsOther research has also been

successful at teaching mothers to employ decontextualized language and

encouraging children to adopt these strategies (Morgan amp Goldstein 2004)

Additionally Huebner (2000) found that community-based intervention

not only improved childrenrsquos narrative ability but also decreased parental

reports of stress

If parents can be taught effective communication skills parentndashchild

relationships should improve resulting in less parenting stress more effective

parenting techniques and importantly more advanced vocabulary and

narrative competence Hence future research aims to investigate whether

fostering improved parentndashchild interactions will lower parenting stress and

enhance childrenrsquos oral language skills among economically disadvantaged

parentndashchild dyads Given that social engagement between parents and

children is a buffer against the risks posed by poverty among low income

samples (Chase-Lansdale amp Brooks-Gunn 1995) future intervention holds

rich potential for equipping at-risk children and mothers with the skills

necessary to succeed in their academic familial and interpersonal worlds

REFERENCES

Abidin R R (1995) Parenting Stress Index Professional Manual 3rd ed Odessa FLPsychological Assessment Resources

Boer F amp Westenberg P M (1994) The factor structure of the Buss and Plomin EASTemperament Survey (Parental Ratings) in a Dutch sample of elementary school childrenJournal of Personality Assessment 62(3) 537ndash51

Bradley R H amp Corwyn R F (2002) Socioeconomic status and child developmentAnnual Review of Psychology 53 371ndash99

Buss A H amp Plomin R (1984) Temperament Early developing personality traits HillsdaleNJ Erlbaum

Calkins S D Hungerford A amp Dedmon S E (2004) Mothersrsquo interactions withtemperamentally frustrated infants Infant Mental Health Journal 25 219ndash39

Chase-Lansdale P L amp Brooks-Gunn J (1995) Escape from poverty What makes adifference for children New York Cambridge University Press

Coplan R J Barber A M amp Lagace-Seguin D G (1999) The role of child temperamentas a predictor of early literacy and numeracy skills in preschoolers Early ChildhoodResearch Quarterly 14 537ndash53

Crnic K A Gaze C amp Hoffman C (2005) Cumulative parenting stress across thepreschool period Relations to maternal parenting and child behaviour at age 5 Infant andChild Development 14 117ndash32

Crnic K A amp Low C (2002) Everyday stresses and parenting In M Bornstein (ed)Handbook of parenting Volume 5 Practical issues in parenting 2nd ed 243ndash68 MahwahNJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Dickinson D K amp McCabe A (1991) The acquisition and development of language A social-interactionist account of literacy and language development In J F Kavanagh(ed) The language continuum from infancy to literacy 1ndash40 Parkton MD York Press


841


Dickinson D K amp Snow C E (1987) Interrelationships among pre-reading and orallanguage skills in kindergartens from two social classes Research on Early ChildhoodEducation Quarterly 2 1ndash25

Dixon W E amp Shore C (1997) Temperamental predictors of linguistic style duringmultiword acquisition Infant Behavior and Development 20 99ndash103

Dixon W amp Smith P (2000) Links between early temperament and language acquisitionMerrill-Palmer Quarterly 46 417ndash40

Duncan G J amp Brooks-Dunn J (2000) Family poverty welfare reform and childdevelopment Child Development 71 188ndash96

Dunn L M amp Dunn L M (1997) Manual for the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 3rded (PPVT-III) Circle Pines MN American Guidance Services

Fivush R Haden C A amp Reese E (2006) Elaborating on elaborations Role of maternalreminiscing style in cognitive and socioemotional development Child Development 771568ndash88

Guthermuth-Anthony L Anthony B J Glanville D N Naiman D Q Waanders Camp Shaffer S (2005) The relationships between parenting stress parenting behaviour andpreschoolersrsquo social competence and behaviour problems in the classroom Infant andChild Development 14 133ndash54

Hart B amp Risley T (1995) Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of youngAmerican children Baltimore Brookes

Hoff E amp Naigles L (2002) How children use input in acquiring a lexicon ChildDevelopment 73 418ndash33

Huebner C (2000) Promoting toddlerrsquos language development through community-basedintervention Journal of Applied Development Psychology 21 513ndash35

Keogh B K (2003) Temperament in the classroom Understanding individual differencesBaltimore MD Paul H Brookes Publishing

Matheny A P (1989) Temperament and cognition Relations between temperament andmental scores In G A Kohnstamm J E Bates amp M K Rothbart (eds) Temperament inchildhood 263ndash82 Chichester Wiley

Mathiesen K S amp Tambs K (1999) The EAS temperament questionnaire ndash factorstructure age trends reliability and stability in a Norwegian sample Journal of ChildPsychology and Psychiatry 40 431ndash39

McCabe A Peterson C amp Conners D M (2006) Attachment security and narrativeelaboration International Journal of Behavioral Development 30 8ndash19

McLyod V C (1998) Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development AmericanPsychologist 53 185ndash204

Michaels S (1991) The dismantling of narrative In A McCabe amp C Peterson (eds)Developing narrative structure 303ndash352 Hillsdale NJ Erlbaum

Miller M H (2000) The relationship of temperament at school entry cognitive abilitygender SES and at-risk status to later school achievement Dissertation AbstractsInternational Section A Humanities and Social Sciences 60 2373

Morales M Mundy P Delgado C E F Yale M Neal R amp Schwartz H K (2000)Gaze following temperament and language development in 6-month-olds A replicationand extension Infant Behavior amp Development 23 231ndash36

Morgan L amp Goldstein H (2004) Teaching mothers of low socioeconomic status to usedecontextualized language during storybook reading Journal of Early Intervention 26235ndash52

Mundy P amp Gomes A (1998) Individual differences in joint attention skill development inthe second year Infant Behavior amp Development 21 469ndash82

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2005a) Duration and developmental timingof poverty and childrenrsquos cognitive and social development from birth through thirdgrade Child Development 76 795ndash810

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2005b) Pathways to reading Therole of oral language in the transition to reading Developmental Psychology 41 428ndash42

NOEL ET AL

842


NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2005c) Predicting individual differencesin attention memory and planning in first graders from experiences at home child careand school Developmental Psychology 41 99ndash114

Paul R amp Smith R L (1993) Narrative skills in 4-year-olds with normal impaired andlate developing language Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 36 592ndash98

Peterson C (1994) Narrative skills and social class Canadian Journal of Education 19251ndash69

Peterson C Jesso B amp McCabe A (1999) Encouraging narratives in preschoolers Anintervention study Journal of Child Language 26 49ndash67

Peterson C amp McCabe A (1983) Developmental psycholinguistics Three ways of looking ata childrsquos narrative New York Plenum

Peterson C amp McCabe A (2004) Echoing our parents Parental influences on childrenrsquosnarration In M W Pratt amp B E Fiese (eds) Family stories and the life course Across timeand generations 27ndash54 Hillsdale NJ Erlbaum

Peterson C amp Roberts C (2003) Like mother like daughter Similarities in narrativestyle Developmental Psychology 39 551ndash62

Reitman D Currier R O amp Stickle T R (2002) A critical evaluation of the parentingstress index-short form (PSI-SF) in a head start population Journal of Clinical Child andAdolescent Psychology 31 384ndash92

Rende R D amp Plomin R (1992) Relations between first grade stress temperament andbehavior problems Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 13 435ndash46

Rescorla L amp Alley A (2001) Validation of the Language Development Survey (LDS) Aparent report tool for identifying language delay in toddlers Journal of Speech Languageand Hearing Research 44 434ndash45

Roth F P (1986) Oral narrative abilities of learning-disabled students Topics in LanguageDisorders 7 21ndash30

Salley B J amp Dixon W E (2007) Temperamental and joint attentional predictors oflanguage development Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 53 131ndash54

Senechal M Ouellette G amp Rodney D (2005) The misunderstood giant On thepredictive role of vocabulary to reading In D Dickinson amp S B Neuman (eds)Handbook of early literacy Vol 2 173ndash84 New York NY Guilford Press

Smith J R Brooks-Gunn J amp Klebanov P K (1997) Consequences of living in povertyfor young childrenrsquos cognitive and verbal ability and early school achievement InG J Duncan amp J Brooks-Gunn (eds) Consequences of growing up poor 132ndash89 NewYork Russell Sage Foundation

Storch S A amp Whitehurst G J (2002) Oral language and code-related precursors toreading Evidence from a longitudinal structural model Developmental Psychology 38934ndash47

Tabors P O Snow C E amp Dickinson D K (2001) Homes and schools togetherSupporting language and literacy development In D K Dickinson amp P O Tabors (eds)Beginning literacy with language Young children learning at home and school 313ndash34Baltimore MD Brooks

Williams K T (1997) Expressive Vocabulary Test Circle Pines MN American GuidanceService

Wood F B Hill D F Meyer M S amp Flowers D L (2005) Predictive assessment ofreading Annals of Dyslexia 55 193ndash216


843


Children from low socioeconomic families face risks to their literacy

development and academic success It is well recognized that childrenrsquos

language abilities at formal school entry lay an important foundation for

literacy and that how readily children acquire this crucial academic skill

is partly predicted by the various language skills that they bring to the

task These skills are commonly seen as falling into two main categories

code-related skills and oral language skills (Storch amp Whitehurst 2002)

Code-related skills such as phonological awareness are particularly

important at the initial phases of learning to read but oral language skills

become increasingly important as children move past the code-breaking

phase into learning how to read fluently and comprehending what they

read This preliminary report focuses on two oral language skills that have

been identified as independently contributing to the success of childrenrsquos

literacy achievement specifically vocabulary and productive narrative

skills We first summarize research showing the important predictive role

of these two language skills in literacy attainment by children and then

explore a couple of factors that potentially affect these language skills

child temperament and parenting stress Importantly this report focuses

on a high-risk group namely low-income children These children are

at considerably increased risk for poor literacy achievement and school

failure and thus it is particularly important to understand not only

what language skills that they bring to the task of learning to read but

also what factors affect these skills The present study looks at a sample

of economically disadvantaged preschoolers prior to a larger language

intervention

Socioeconomic status

Children living in poverty face heightened risks to their cognitive

development as compared to their non-poor counterparts (for a review see

Bradley amp Corwyn 2002) In fact economic disadvantage is predictive of

childrenrsquos cognitive abilities even with the effects of maternal education

controlled (Smith Brooks-Gunn amp Klebanov 1997) It is thought that

poverty affects childrenrsquos development because economic disadvantage

increases family stressors creates psychological distress and impairs the

quality of parentndashchild interactions (McLoyd 1998) Children exposed to

poverty earlier in life are more likely to have poorer achievement as

compared to those exposed to economic disadvantage later in life (Duncan

amp Brooks-Gunn 2000) Moreover children who face chronic as opposed

to transitory economic disadvantage perform poorer on measures of

school-readiness and language skills (NICHD Early Child Care Research

Network 2005a) Other research has also documented a link between low

socioeconomic status (SES) and poorer preliteracy skills (Peterson 1994

NOEL ET AL

824






Vocabulary

















parenting stress

Narrative ability


















825











Child temperament

















success














development

NOEL ET AL

826


















early in life

Parenting stress





















characteristics




827




























outcomes

Hypotheses













NOEL ET AL

828


METHOD

Participants













personnel

Measures












clauses














829












contexts












Westenberg 1994)
















Procedure



NOEL ET AL

830





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843






Vocabulary

















parenting stress

Narrative ability


















825











Child temperament

















success














development

NOEL ET AL

826


















early in life

Parenting stress





















characteristics




827




























outcomes

Hypotheses













NOEL ET AL

828


METHOD

Participants













personnel

Measures












clauses














829












contexts












Westenberg 1994)
















Procedure



NOEL ET AL

830





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843











Child temperament

















success














development

NOEL ET AL

826


















early in life

Parenting stress





















characteristics




827




























outcomes

Hypotheses













NOEL ET AL

828


METHOD

Participants













personnel

Measures












clauses














829












contexts












Westenberg 1994)
















Procedure



NOEL ET AL

830





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843


















early in life

Parenting stress





















characteristics




827




























outcomes

Hypotheses













NOEL ET AL

828


METHOD

Participants













personnel

Measures












clauses














829












contexts












Westenberg 1994)
















Procedure



NOEL ET AL

830





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843




























outcomes

Hypotheses













NOEL ET AL

828


METHOD

Participants













personnel

Measures












clauses














829












contexts












Westenberg 1994)
















Procedure



NOEL ET AL

830





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843


METHOD

Participants













personnel

Measures












clauses














829












contexts












Westenberg 1994)
















Procedure



NOEL ET AL

830





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843












contexts












Westenberg 1994)
















Procedure



NOEL ET AL

830





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843





















verbatim

Data coding











as follows





proposition





831



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843



produced













coherence below)






















red )



NOEL ET AL

832




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843




RESULTS







equivalent of 310

Narrative ability














(N=56)






833

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843

















(r=042 plt001)




(N=56)






NOEL ET AL

834













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843













plt005)






(EVT) vocabulary

Measures PPVT EVT


PSI-SF x032 (p=0019) x029 (p=0035)




Measures PSI-SF




835































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843































NOEL ET AL

836









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843









ability

Summary














DISCUSSION











more cohesive







837










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843










Child temperament

































NOEL ET AL

838




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843




















Parenting stress
























839




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843




































Intervention







NOEL ET AL

840











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843











reports of stress












REFERENCES












841
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843
























NOEL ET AL

842





















843





















843


Documents

The relationship of parenting stress and child …...Shore, 1997). It is thought that temperament inﬂuences the development of joint attention and its relationship to children’s