How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. Methods: We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

10.21203/rs.2.14550/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mary E Brushe ◽

John W. Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally A. Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

Verbal Interactions ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Large Variability ◽

Education Group ◽

Word Gap ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Education Groups ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Methods: Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

10.21203/rs.2.14550/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mary E Brushe ◽

John W. Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally A. Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

Verbal Interactions ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Large Variability ◽

Education Group ◽

Word Gap ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Education Groups ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Methods: Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

10.21203/rs.2.14550/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Mary E Brushe ◽

John W. Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally A. Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

Verbal Interactions ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Large Variability ◽

Education Group ◽

Word Gap ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Education Groups ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Methods: Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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The education word gap emerges by 18 months: findings from an Australian prospective study

BMC Pediatrics ◽

10.1186/s12887-021-02712-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mary E. Brushe ◽

John Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Murthy N. Mittinty ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prospective Study ◽

Maternal Education ◽

Verbal Interactions ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Audio Recordings ◽

Language Environment ◽

Low Educated ◽

Word Gap ◽

Education Groups ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Background The idea of the ‘30 million word gap’ suggests families from more socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds engage in more verbal interactions with their child than disadvantaged families. Initial findings from the Language in Little Ones (LiLO) study up to 12 months showed no word gap between maternal education groups. Methods Families with either high or low maternal education were purposively recruited into a five-year prospective study. We report results from the first three waves of LiLO when children were 6, 12 and 18 months old. Day-long audio recordings, obtained using the Language Environment Analysis software, provided counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Results By the time children were 18 months old all three measures of talk were 0.5 to 0.7 SD higher among families with more education, but with large variation within education groups. Changes in talk from 6 to 18 months highlighted that families from low educated backgrounds were decreasing the amount they spoke to their children (− 4219.54, 95% CI -6054.13, − 2384.95), compared to families from high educated backgrounds who remained relatively stable across this age period (− 369.13, 95% CI − 2344.57, 1606.30). Conclusions The socioeconomic word gap emerges between 12 and 18 months of age. Interventions to enhance maternal communication, child vocalisations and vocabulary development should begin prior to 18 months.

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Associations Between Maternal Stress, Early Language Behaviors, and Infant Electroencephalography During the First Year of Life

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000920000501 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-28

Author(s):

Lara J. PIERCE ◽

Emily REILLY ◽

Charles A. NELSON

Keyword(s):

Stressful Life Events ◽

Individual Variability ◽

First Year ◽

Early Language ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

High Exposure ◽

Gamma Power ◽

Language Environment ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Associations have been observed between socioeconomic status (SES) and language outcomes from early childhood, but individual variability is high. Exposure to high levels of stress, often associated with low-SES status, might influence how parents and infants interact within the early language environment. Differences in these early language behaviors, and in early neurodevelopment, might underlie SES-based differences in language that emerge later on. Analysis of natural language samples from a predominantly low-/mid-income sample of mother-infant dyads, obtained using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system, found that maternal reports of exposure to stressful life events, and perceived stress, were negatively correlated with child vocalizations and conversational turns when infants were 6 and 12 months of age. Greater numbers of vocalizations and conversational turns were also associated with lower relative theta power and higher relative gamma power in 6- and 12-month baseline EEG – a pattern that might support subsequent language development.

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409The Word Gap: At What Age Does it Emerge? Results from a Prospective Cohort Study

International Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1093/ije/dyab168.101 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Mary Brushe ◽

John Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

Literacy Education ◽

Socioeconomic Differences ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Socioeconomic Groups ◽

Average Change ◽

Education And Employment ◽

Language Environment ◽

Word Gap ◽

Education Groups

Abstract Background Language is a critical development accomplishment of early childhood, enabling later literacy, education and employment. Previous studies have highlighted socioeconomic inequalities in the amount parents speak to their child, with researchers estimating by age four parents from professional backgrounds spoke 30 million more words to their children, than parents who were on welfare. Methods This study utilises innovative speech recognition technology called Language Environment Analysis (LENA), which counts the number of words children hear and speak over a day. LENA data is collected once every six months from 6 – 48 months of age, across two cohorts of children who are stratified by two levels of maternal education to examine the effects across socioeconomic groups. Results Results from the first three waves of data collection demonstrate that differences between education groups in the number of adult words spoken to the child are not evident until the children are 18 months old. Average change in adult word counts per day by maternal education show there is a difference of 17 words at 6 months, 568 words at 12 months and 3,851 words at 18 months. Conclusions This is the first study to be able to identify the age when socioeconomic differences in the amount of talk emerge. This has significant implications for the timing of interventions aiming to reduce the word gap, suggesting targeting the implementation of programs prior to 18 months. Key messages Socioeconomic differences in the amount parents talk to their children do not emerge until children are 18 months old.

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757. Association between cumulative febrile, respiratory and diarrheal illness in the first year of life and neurodevelopmental and growth outcomes among a cohort of children in rural Guatemala

Open Forum Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/ofid/ofaa439.947 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S425-S426

Author(s):

Daniel Olson ◽

Molly Lamb ◽

Amy Connery ◽

Desiree Bauer ◽

Alejandra Paniagua-Avila ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

Febrile Illness ◽

Early Learning ◽

First Year ◽

Cumulative Number ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Surveillance Period ◽

Final Study ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Height For Age

Abstract Background Recurrent infections are associated with neurodevelopmental (ND) delay in infants, but the primary drivers are poorly understood. Leveraging an infant cohort from rural Guatemala designed to evaluate the effects of post-natal Zika virus on ND (DMID 16-0057), we evaluated the association between cumulative illness and ND delay and stunting. Methods Infants enrolled at 0-3 months of age underwent weekly at-home surveillance for caregiver-reported syndromic illness, including cough, fever and vomiting/diarrhea for a 12-month period. Anthropometric assessments and ND testing by Guatemalan psychologists using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) were perforrmed at 12-15 months of age. Multivariable generalized linear regression models were used to test associations between syndromic illness in infancy, 12-15-month MSEL Early Learning Composite (ELC) Score, and stunting (height-for-age < -2 SD) at 12-15 months. Results The cohort (n=425) had a mean enrollment age of 1.3 months; 202 (48%) were female, 387 (91%) self-reported a literate mother, and 301 (71%) were breastfeeding at study completion. Infants had reported illness for a median of 16 weeks during the surveillance period; cough was reported most frequently (median=11 weeks, range=0-37 weeks). Lower maternal education (p=0.007) and literacy (p=0.002) as well as infant age (p=0.007) and male gender (p=0.004) were associated with MSEL ELC Score <85 (-1 SD). After adjusting for gender, breastfeeding, age, and maternal literacy, the cumulative number of weeks with reported cough (p=0.0009), fever (p=0.0001), or any syndromic illness (p=0.0007) were associated with decreased 12-month MSEL ECL Score; there was no association with diarrhea/vomiting (p=0.36). There was no association between caregiver-reported syndromic illnesses (any type) and stunting at final study visit. Conclusion In a cohort of Guatemalan infants, cumulative fever and cough episodes were significantly associated with lower MSEL ELC Score, whereas there was no association with diarrhea/vomiting. In this low-resource community, these findings highlight the potential negative ND consequences of febrile illness and persistent cough in the first year of life. NIAID Contract HHSN272201300015I Task Order HHSN27200013 (Co-PIs: FMM and EJA). Disclosures Molly Lamb, PhD, BioFire (Grant/Research Support) Evan J. Anderson, MD, Sanofi Pasteur (Scientific Research Study Investigator)

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Allergic rhinitis and associated factors in schoolchildren from Bogota, Colombia

Rhinology Journal ◽

10.4193/rhino11.175 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 50 (2) ◽

pp. 122-128

Author(s):

A. Penaranda ◽

G. Aristizabal ◽

E. Garcia ◽

C. Vasquez ◽

C.E. Rodriguez-Martinez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Allergic Rhinitis ◽

Atopic Dermatitis ◽

Fast Food ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

Current Asthma ◽

Factors Associated ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

At Home

Background: Allergic rhinitis is one of the most frequent chronic diseases among children. The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of and the factors associated with self-reported allergic rhinitis symptoms in schoolchildren from Bogota, Colombia. Methodology/principal: We followed the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) methodology. Our sample included 3,256 children aged 6 - 7 and 3,830 adolescents aged 13 - 14 years. Results: The prevalence of self-reported allergic rhinitis symptoms was 30.8% among children and 36.6% among adolescents. Factors associated with self-reported allergic rhinitis among children included current asthma and atopic dermatitis symptoms; use of acetaminophen in the first year of life and in the last 12 months; antibiotic use in the first year of life; high- school and university maternal education; smokers at home; and caesarean delivery. Among adolescents, associated factors included current asthma and atopic dermatitis symptoms; current acetaminophen use once per month; frequent fast-food consumption; cat exposure at home; and smoking. Conclusion: Further exploration of factors associated with allergic rhinitis symptoms is needed.

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The influence of the Municipal Human Development Index and maternal education on infant mortality: a parallel investigation in a retrospective cohort study in the extreme south of Brazil

10.21203/rs.3.rs-29481/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Carolina Ribeiro Anele ◽

Vânia Naomi Hirakata ◽

Marcelo Zubaran Goldani ◽

Clécio Homrich da Silva

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Infant Mortality ◽

Infant Death ◽

Retrospective Cohort Study ◽

Poisson Regression ◽

Retrospective Cohort ◽

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

South Of Brazil ◽

First Year Of Life

Abstract Background Infant mortality is considered an important and sensitive health indicator in several countries, especially in underdeveloped and developing countries. Most of the factors influencing infant mortality are interrelated and are the result of social issues. Therefore, this study performed a parallel investigation of the influence of the MHDI on the macro-region of residence and maternal education on infant mortality in a capital in the extreme south of Brazil. Methods It is a retrospective cohort study with data on births and deaths in the first year of live for the period of 2000-2017. The association between the independent variables and the outcome was done by bivariate analysis through simple Poisson regression. The variables that can potentially be considered confusing were used in a multiple Poisson regression for robust variances - adjusted model. Results The study included 311361 children, of whom 2271 died. Maternal education, individually and jointly analyzed with the MHDI, showed association with the outcome of infant death in the first year of life, particularly for children of mothers with lower maternal education (p<0.001). In relation to other related factors, maternal age; number of Prenatal Care Consultations; gestational age, weight, gender and Apgar Index (5th minute) of the newborn showed association with IM (p<0.001). Conclusions Although the HDI is considered a good predictor of infant mortality by some authors, the analyses of the present study did not present an association between the MHDI and death in the first year of life after adjustments for the other variables. Unlike the MHDI, maternal education under eight years of study maintained an association with infant death, proving to be a social determinant with relevant impact on infant mortality. Thus, it is concluded that maternal education, individually, is higher than the MHDI to assess the outcome of infant mortality and is easily accessible information.

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