Rural Neighborhood Context, Child Care Quality, and Relationship to Early Language Development

Abstract

Research Findings: Prior research with older urban children indicates that a disadvantaged neighborhood context is associated with poorer early development, including poorer verbal ability, reading recognition, and achievement scores among children. Neighborhood disadvantage in rural communities and at younger age levels may also be related to development; however, this relationship has received little examination. In this study we utilized data from the Family Life Project, a representative sample of babies born to mothers in poor rural counties in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, to address questions related to the relationship between neighborhood context (disadvantage and safety) and children's early language development. We examined the mediation of this relationship by child care quality. We also examined geographic isolation and collective socialization as moderators of the relationship between neighborhood context and child care quality. Results indicated that although neighborhood disadvantage did not predict children's development or child care quality, neighborhood safety predicted children's receptive language, with child care quality a partial mediator of this relationship. Collective socialization but not geographic isolation moderated the relationship between neighborhood safety and child care quality. Practice or Policy: Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed, including improving community safety through community policing, neighborhood watch, and social networks and increasing access to quality child care.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Family Life Project Phase I Key Investigators include Lynne Vernon-Feagans, University of North Carolina; Martha Cox, University of North Carolina; Clancy Blair, Pennsylvania State University; Peg Burchinal, University of North Carolina; Linda Burton, Duke University; Keith Crnic, Arizona State University; Ann Crouter, Pennsylvania State University; Patricia Garrett-Peters, University of North Carolina; Mark Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University; Stephanie Lanza, Pennsylvania State University; Roger Mills-Koonce, University of North Carolina; Debra Skinner, University of North Carolina; Emily Werner, Pennsylvania State University; and Michael Willoughby, University of North Carolina. We would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Amanda Henley (University librarian) and Cathy Zimmer and Paul Voss (Odum Institute for Social Sciences Research) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This research was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant (NIDA/NICHD) #P01-HD-39667, with co-funding by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Notes

Note. HOME = Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment; PLS-4 = Preschool Language Scale–4; WPPSI = Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. HOME = Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment; PLS-4 = Preschool Language Scale–4; WPPSI = Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.

*p < .05.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. WPPSI = Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence; HOME = Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment.

^† p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.