Exploring differential impacts of a parent intervention on reading and toy play across ethnic and linguistic groups

Abstract

The ways that parents respond to their children's initiations and guide their learning are associated with subsequent language development. Responsive parenting interventions have shown positive impacts on parent behaviors and child outcomes. However, less is known about how intervention effects vary for families from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. This secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial of Play and Learning Strategies examines the effect of the intervention for three subgroups: Spanish-dominant Latine families (n = 142), English-dominant Latine families (n = 112), and non-Latine families (n = 137). Parents of preschool-aged children (M age = 52.8 months) were randomized to the intervention or a control condition and observed interacting with their child in two settings – book reading and toy play – before and after the intervention period. Spanish-dominant Latine parents received the intervention in Spanish, while the other two groups received it in English. There were significant main effects of the intervention on parent and child behaviors during book reading for all three subgroups. In contrast, intervention effects varied by subgroup for parent and child behaviors observed during toy play. The Spanish-dominant Latine parents showed larger gains in parent and child outcomes when observed in the toy play setting, compared to the other two subgroups. These differential effects were not explained by the number of completed sessions, coach-rated engagement, or family composition. Our results highlight the importance of observing multiple contexts in research with families from minoritized backgrounds and considering linguistic and cultural differences and strengths in parent interventions.