Understanding the landscapes of stories: the association between preschoolers’ narrative comprehension and production skills and cognitive abilities

Seventy‐two African‐American and European American low‐income preschoolers attending Head Start and community childcare centres were asked to create an oral story using a wordless picture book, then told an oral story using the same book and asked follow‐up comprehension questions. Children’s performance was better on questions addressing the character’s actions versus his motives/intentions. Five‐year‐olds outperformed three‐year‐olds, and African‐Americans outperformed European Americans on questions about the character’s motives/intentions. After controlling for children’s age and ethnicity, the only narrative skill that predicted cognitive abilities was narrative quality: children who created narratives that included the character’s motives/intentions had higher cognitive skills.