Examining links between Mexican-origin mothers’ cultural characteristics and young children’s Spanish oral language skills

Research shows that maintenance of Spanish, the heritage or home language of 75% of U.S. Latine children and adolescents, is associated with their positive psychosocial development and academic achievement. Furthermore, a solid foundation in oral language skills in early childhood contributes to their literacy and overall academic success. Use of Spanish in the home by parents/caregivers has been studied in relation to Latine children’s Spanish oral language skills, yet relatively little is known about the cultural factors that shape these skills in early childhood. Using observation based measures of language production in the interactions of 166 Mexican-origin young mothers ( M age = 19.98; SD = 1.00) with their children, this study examined mothers’ Mexican cultural involvement when their children were three years of age, their cultural socialization practices and Spanish language use with their children at child age 4, and the direct and indirect associations of these cultural factors with children’s language production in Spanish at child age 5. Results showed that mothers’ Mexican cultural involvement positively predicted their young children’s Spanish oral language production at age 5, even after controlling for mothers’ use of Spanish in mother-child interactions and efforts to socialize their young children to the Mexican culture. Mothers’ use of Spanish and their cultural socialization efforts differentially mediated the association between their Mexican cultural involvement and their young children’s Spanish language skills. Findings highlight the critical role of Mexican-origin mothers’ cultural assets for their children’s bilingual development in early childhood.