Income and African American Fathers’ Parenting: Associations with Language Development in Early Childhood

Abstract

Poverty can have adverse effects on early childhood development, particularly language development. Language development plays an integral role in child development because communicative skills are necessary for social engagement and school success. Without strong language skills, children may struggle in other domains of development. Due to the overrepresentation of African American children living in poverty, African American children may be particularly likely to lag in their language development. However, little work has examined the protective role that low-income African American fathers may play in the language development of their children. The current study expanded the research on father engagement and links between father’s income and children’s language development among African American families (n = 531). Lower father’s income at T2 was not associated with lower receptive vocabulary in children. Father’s engagement in language activities and physical play were not positively associated with children’s receptive vocabulary. Lastly, the relationship between income and children’s receptive vocabulary was not moderated by father’s engagement in language activities, nor physical play. These findings suggest that more research needs to be done to understand African American familial processes that can be protective for children who may come from low-income households.