How fathers’ attachment security and education contribute to early child language skills above and beyond mothers: parent-child conversation under scrutiny

Figures & data

Table 1. Examples for the five modes of conversation.

Describing–Commenting

Father of a 24-month-old boy comments on a picture: “There are bugs all over the grass.” Father of an 18-month-old girl describes a picture: “The rabbit hops down the way.” Mother of a 20-month-old girl explains: “There is a mole down the earth.”

Pointing–Labeling

Father of a 15-month-old boy points to a group of pigs: “Look, these are pigs!” Father of a 17-month-old girl points to the face of a cow: “Here is the nose.” Mother of a 23-month-old girl reveals a butterfly behind a flap: “A butterfly!”

Inquiring–Clarifying

Mother of a 19-month-old boy asks: “Is this the cat?” Father of a 21-month-old boy asks: “What does the pig say?” A 22-month-old boy says: “A pi-h”. Father asks: “Do you mean the pig lying down here?”

Expanding–Elaborating

Father of a 17-month-old girl says: “Yeah, a pear. You have just eaten a pear 20 minutes ago.” A 23-month-old boy points to a tractor. Father says: “We were driving the tractor yesterday.” A 20-month-old girl points to a bowl. Mother says: “I think this bowl looks like grandma’s bowl. You also have a bowl.”

Repeating–Imitating

A 23-month-old girl points to a sleeping sheep: “Shhh!“. Father repeats:“Shhh!” A 12-month-old boy says: “Woof, Woof”. The mother says: “Woof woof makes the dog!” A 22-month-old boy points to a tractor and says: “Boy, in”. Father replies: “A boy in the tractor.”

Table 2. Parents’ use of the five modes of conversation.

Modes of conversation	Fathers				Mothers
	n	M	SD		n	M	SD	Wilcoxon-test
Describing–Commenting	87	0.98	0.85		87	1.06	1.22	Z = −0.102
Pointing–Labelling	97	2.13	1.45		96	2.56	1.29	Z = −2.667*
Inquiring–Clarifying	98	4.76	2.29		95	4.60	2.07	Z = 0.181
Expanding–Elaborating	34	0.11	0.18		40	0.10	0.15	Z = 0.375
Repeating–Imitating	83	0.73	0.77		73	0.62	0.63	Z = 0.286

n = number of parents using the respective mode at least once. M = mean usage of the mode per minute. * p < .05

Table 3. Results of path analysis.

Variable	Association	Variable	b	SD	β	p
BLOCK A
Receptive language skills (RLS)	←	Child gender (male)	0.644	0.456	0.115	.158
	←	Attachment security (M)	2.614	1.004	0.231	.009
	←	Education (M)	−0.331	0.487	−0.058	.497
	←	Attachment security (F)	2.362	1.052	0.189	.025
	←	Education (F)	1.191	0.497	0.211	.017
	←	Inquiring–Clarifying (M)	0.350	0.124	0.262	.005
	←	Describing–Commenting (M)	−0.078	0.206	−0.033	.704
	←	Pointing–Labelling (M)	0.439	0.199	0.198	.027
	←	Expanding–Elaborating (M)	0.201	1.725	0.010	.907
	←	Repeating–Imitating (M)	0.294	0.396	0.067	.458
	←	Inquiring–Clarifying (F)	−0.249	0.119	−0.191	.036
	←	Describing–Commenting (F)	0.198	0.302	0.061	.511
	←	Pointing–Labelling (F)	0.053	0.185	0.026	.776
	←	Expanding–Elaborating (F)	−0.254	1.279	−0.017	.843
	←	Repeating–Imitating (F)	−0.076	0.332	−0.020	.819
Expressive Language Skills (ELS)	←	RLS	0.292	0.080	0.366	.000
	←	Child gender (male)	−1.031	0.361	−0.230	.004
	←	Attachment security (M)	0.903	0.813	0.100	.267
	←	Education (M)	−0.564	0.383	−0.123	.141
	←	Attachment security (F)	0.159	0.845	0.016	.851
	←	Education (F)	−0.111	0.401	−0.025	.781
	←	Inquiring–Clarifying (M)	0.091	0.101	0.085	.370
	←	Describing–Commenting (M)	−0.054	0.161	−0.029	.736
	←	Pointing–Labelling (M)	0.210	0.160	0.119	.188
	←	Expanding–Elaborating (M)	−2.381	1.351	−0.152	.078
	←	Repeating–Imitating (M)	0.374	0.311	0.107	.229
	←	Inquiring–Clarifying (F)	−0.075	0.095	−0.072	.431
	←	Describing–Commenting (F)	−0.202	0.237	−0.079	.394
	←	Pointing–Labelling (F)	0.228	0.145	0.143	.116
	←	Expanding–Elaborating (F)	−0.967	1.003	−0.079	.335
	←	Repeating–Imitating (F)	0.571	0.260	0.192	.028
BLOCK B
Inquiring–Clarifying (M)	←	Attachment security (M)	0.675	0.828	0.080	.415
	←	Education (M)	−0.152	0.422	−0.035	.719
Describing–Commenting (M)	←	Attachment security (M)	0.164	0.483	0.034	.735
	←	Education (M)	−0.265	0.246	−0.109	.281
Pointing–Labelling (M)	←	Attachment security (M)	0.713	0.508	0.140	.160
	←	Education (M)	0.112	0.259	0.043	.666
Expanding–Elaborating (M)	←	Attachment security (M)	0.181	0.055	0.314	.001
	←	Education (M)	−0.010	0.028	−0.034	.725
Repeating–Imitating (M)	←	Attachment security (M)	−0.038	0.250	−0.015	.880
	←	Education (M)	0.033	0.127	0.025	.797
Inquiring–Clarifying (F)	←	Attachment security (F)	0.931	0.933	0.097	.318
	←	Education (F)	−0.119	0.422	−0.028	.777
Describing–Commenting (F)	←	Attachment security (F)	0.193	0.375	0.050	.607
	←	Education (F)	0.512	0.169	0.293	.003
Pointing–Labelling (F)	←	Attachment security (F)	−0.202	0.615	−0.032	.742
	←	Education (F)	0.626	0.278	0.222	.024
Expanding–Elaborating (F)	←	Attachment security (F)	0.014	0.083	0.017	.868
	←	Education (F)	0.012	0.037	0.034	.738
Repeating–Imitating (F)	←	Attachment security (F)	0.006	0.324	0.002	.986
	←	Education (F)	−0.089	0.146	−0.059	.545
BLOCK C
Inquiring–Clarifying (M) [a]	↔	Pointing–Labelling (M)	0.636	0.177	0.244	.000
Inquiring–Clarifying (M) [b]	↔	Repeating–Imitating (M)	0.363	0.094	0.273	.000
Describing–Commenting (M) [c]	↔	Pointing–Labelling (M)	0.380	0.090	0.259	.000
Describing–Commenting (M) [d]	↔	Expanding–Elaborating (M)	0.034	0.011	0.214	.002
Inquiring–Clarifying (F) [a]	↔	Pointing–Labelling (F)	0.636	0.177	0.218	.000
Inquiring–Clarifying (F) [b]	↔	Repeating–Imitating (F)	0.363	0.094	0.227	.000
Describing–Commenting (F) [c]	↔	Pointing–Labelling (F)	0.380	0.090	0.336	.000
Describing–Commenting (F) [d]	↔	Expanding–Elaborating (F)	0.034	0.011	0.224	.002
BLOCK D
Attachment security (M)	↔	Attachment security (F)	0.013	0.006	0.232	.026
Education (M)	↔	Education (F)	0.058	0.025	0.239	.022
Inquiring–Clarifying (M)	↔	Inquiring–Clarifying (F)	1.103	0.417	0.247	.008
Describing–Commenting (M)	↔	Describing–Commenting (F)	0.009	0.085	0.010	.911
Pointing–Labelling (M)	↔	Pointing–Labelling (F)	0.146	0.148	0.086	.325
Expanding–Elaborating (M)	↔	Expanding–Elaborating (F)	0.000	0.002	0.012	.902
Repeating–Imitating (M)	↔	Repeating–Imitating (F)	0.139	0.048	0.292	.003
R^2
Receptive Language Skills (RLS)			.359
Expressive Language Skills (ELS)			.382

M = mother, F = father. Brackets with the same letter specify an equality constraint.

Figure 1. The path model predicting expressive and receptive language skills by attachment security, education, modes of conversation and child gender. Only significant paths and associations are displayed with standardized coefficients. Intercorrelations are drawn as paths without arrows. M = mother, F = father. * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.