Level of Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Children’s Expressive Language: Examining Mediation by Parenting Interactions

Expressive language acquisition and growth in the first three years of life is predictive of school-age literacy and academic achievement (Dickinson, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2010; National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). Young children experiencing economic hardship are at greater risk for expressive language delays than their economically advantaged peers (Huttenlocher, Waterfall, Vasilyeva, Vevea, & Hedges, 2010). Parental engagement in developmentally supportive parent-child interactions can overcome the negative impact of poverty on language development (Roggman et al, 2013). However, a significant challenge to fostering healthy parent-child interactions is the threat of depressive symptoms. Depression is prevalent among economically disadvantaged mothers of young children and compromises engagement in parenting practices that support language development (Hwa-Froelich, Cook, & Flick, 2008). Despite the association among maternal depression, parenting practices, and children’s expressive language outcomes, limited research investigating the mediating role of parenting interactions lacks psychometric quality and construct validity. Thus, the current investigation evaluated the association between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s expressive language in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of mothers and their young children. Additionally, five simple mediation analyses using ordinary least squares regression in PROCESS (Hayes, 2013) assessed the roles of affectionate, responsive, encouraging, teaching, and overall parenting practices through the use of a standardized, psychometrically validated observational tool of parenting practices. Analyses revealed no significant relationship between maternal depression and children’s expressive language. All five mediation analyses found non-significant indirect effects. Teaching behaviors had a positive association with children’s expressive language scores, however this relationship lost statistical significance after controlling for children’s age and Early Head Start enrollment duration. Explanation of results and future research directions are discussed

Integrating the little talks intervention into Early Head Start: An experimental examination of implementation supports involving fidelity monitoring and performance feedback

Enriching home visiting services by incorporating scientifically-supported interventions is a means for improving their effectiveness in promoting child development. However, deliberate efforts to ensure that home visitors are fully knowledgeable and supported to implement interventions with parents of young children are necessary. In this experimental study, a randomly-assigned group of Early Head Start home visitors monitored the fidelity of their provision of a scientifically-based intervention, Little Talks, and the program\u27s general child development services. On a bi-weekly basis, home visitors received performance feedback specific to their implementation of Little Talks and based upon the fidelity data. Findings demonstrated that home visitors showed immediate and consistent mastery of the Little Talks content, while the quality of their implementation, including their clinical decision-making and collaborative processes, improved to adequate levels over time. The Little Talks home visitors showed generalized improvements in their ability to obtain Parent Input while providing the program\u27s typical child development services were detected. In fact, Little Talks home visitors\u27 were superior in obtaining Parent Input relative to comparison home visitors. Further, parents for whom low-quality intervention implementation was observed discontinued their enrollment in home visiting prematurely, while high-quality implementation was associated with sustained enrollment. Limitations for this study are identified, leading to future directions for advancing home visitors\u27 incorporation of evidence-based practices