Preschool book-sharing and oral storytelling experiences in ethnically diverse, low-income families

ABSTRACT

Children’s book-sharing and oral storytelling experiences were examined in 264 4-year-olds from low-income African-American, Dominican, Mexican, and Chinese families in the United States. Mothers reported on children’s book-sharing and oral storytelling experiences with mothers, fathers, and other people (siblings, grandparents, relatives, and family friends). Results showed that children’s book-sharing experiences were strongly associated with their oral storytelling experiences, suggesting that individual children had uniformly high or low participation in these activities. Mothers, fathers, and other people (especially siblings) participated in these activities with children. Family socio-economic status (i.e. parent education and employment), parental ethnicity, and household composition related to children’s experiences showing that learning experiences are embedded in ecological contexts. Future interventions should recognize the specific needs and advantages of families from diverse backgrounds, and involve multiple family members, including siblings.

KEYWORDS:

• Book-sharing
• fathers
• mothers
• oral storytelling
• ethnic minority

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Rufan Luo received her Ph.D. degree in developmental psychology from New York University, New York, NY, USA. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Camden. Dr. Luo's research examines how children's home learning experiences and parent-child interactions influence and support early language and cognitive development, with a focus on children and families from socioeconomically, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. She also works on developing early interventions for children and caregivers from at‐risk families, using the framework of community-based participatory research (CBPR).

Catherine S. Tamis‐LeMonda received the Ph.D. degree in experimental/developmental psychology from New York University, New York City, NY, USA. She is currently a Professor of Developmental Psychology at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, as well as Co‐Director of the Center for Research on Culture, Development, and Education at NYU. Her research is focused on infants' developing language, cognition, and social understanding across the first four years of life. Her research highlights the social and cultural contexts of early learning and development within the U.S. and internationally. She has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Child Development, National Institute of Mental Health, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, the Ford Foundation, and the Robinhood Foundation.

ORCID

Rufan Luo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3518-9953

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NSF BCS grant no. 021859 and NSF IRADS grant no. 0721383.