Dr. Michal Perlman

Professor, University of Toronto and Director, Dr. R.G.N. Laidlaw Research Centre, University of Toronto



416-978-0596


Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)

University of Toronto

252 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 1V6


Sibship Size, Sibling Cognitive Sensitivity, and Children's Receptive Vocabulary


Journal article


Heather Prime, Sharon Pauker, Andr{\'{e}} Plamondon, Michal Perlman, Jennifer Jenkins
Pediatrics, vol. 133, American Academy of Pediatrics ({AAP}), 2014 Feb, pp. e394--e401


View PDF
Cite

Cite

APA   Click to copy
Prime, H., Pauker, S., Plamondon, A., Perlman, M., & Jenkins, J. (2014). Sibship Size, Sibling Cognitive Sensitivity, and Children's Receptive Vocabulary. Pediatrics, 133, e394–e401. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-2874


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Prime, Heather, Sharon Pauker, Andr{\'{e}} Plamondon, Michal Perlman, and Jennifer Jenkins. “Sibship Size, Sibling Cognitive Sensitivity, and Children's Receptive Vocabulary.” Pediatrics 133 (February 2014): e394–e401.


MLA   Click to copy
Prime, Heather, et al. “Sibship Size, Sibling Cognitive Sensitivity, and Children's Receptive Vocabulary.” Pediatrics, vol. 133, American Academy of Pediatrics ({AAP}), Feb. 2014, pp. e394–e401, doi:10.1542/peds.2012-2874.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{prime2014a,
  title = {Sibship Size,  Sibling Cognitive Sensitivity,  and Children's Receptive Vocabulary},
  year = {2014},
  month = feb,
  journal = {Pediatrics},
  pages = {e394--e401},
  publisher = {American Academy of Pediatrics ({AAP})},
  volume = {133},
  doi = {10.1542/peds.2012-2874},
  author = {Prime, Heather and Pauker, Sharon and Plamondon, Andr{\'{e}} and Perlman, Michal and Jenkins, Jennifer},
  month_numeric = {2}
}

OBJECTIVES:

The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between sibship size and children’s vocabulary as a function of quality of sibling interactions. It was hypothesized that coming from a larger sibship (ie, 3+ children) would be related to lower receptive vocabulary in children. However, we expected this association to be moderated by the level of cognitive sensitivity shown by children’s next-in-age older siblings.

METHODS:

Data on 385 children (mean age = 3.15 years) and their next-in-age older siblings (mean age = 5.57 years) were collected and included demographic questionnaires, direct testing of children’s receptive vocabulary, and videos of mother-child and sibling interactions. Sibling dyads were taped engaging in a cooperative building task and tapes were coded for the amount of cognitive sensitivity the older sibling exhibited toward the younger sibling.

RESULTS:

Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted and showed an interaction between sibship size and sibling cognitive sensitivity in the prediction of children’s receptive vocabulary; children exposed to large sibships whose next-in-age older sibling exhibited higher levels of cognitive sensitivity were less likely to show low vocabulary skills when compared with those children exposed to large sibships whose siblings showed lower levels of cognitive sensitivity.

CONCLUSIONS:

Children who show sensitivity to the cognitive needs of their younger siblings provide a rich environment for language development. The negative impact of large sibships on language development is moderated by the presence of an older sibling who shows high cognitive sensitivity.

Share



Follow this website


You need to create an Owlstown account to follow this website.


Sign up

Already an Owlstown member?

Log in