Ramifications of socioeconomic differences for three year old children and their families in Turkey

Abstract

This study identifies how socioeconomic status (SES) is linked to receptive vocabulary knowledge, externalizing behaviors, and prosocial behaviors of children through the characteristics of their developmental environments (family and neighborhood resources, and a family risk factor). Data came from a sample of 36-47 month-old children and their mothers in Turkey, designed to be representative (N=902). The results indicated that: (I) almost all of the family and neighborhood characteristics of the children, and their vocabulary knowledge and prosocial behaviors significantly differed by the two indicators of SES (i.e., maternal education and family economic well-being); (2) externalizing behaviors were weakly associated with SES; (3) family resources that were often thought to be supportive of cognitive development (learning materials and stimulation for learning) mediated the association of SES with children's vocabulary knowledge and prosocial behaviors; (4) maternal warmth and responsiveness was an important protective factor for children's vocabulary knowledge and prosocial behaviors if their families were economically disadvantaged; and, (5) support from the neighbors was an important protective factor for children's prosocial behaviors if their mothers had a low level of education. These results were largely consistent with those from the U.S. samples, but additionally highlighted the importance of a sensitive mother-child relationship to protect children from the ramifications of low SES. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.