Redefining the Word Gap from a Cumulative Risk Perspective

Abstract

In 1995, Betty Hart and Todd Risley published findings that young children from low-income backgrounds will hear 32 million fewer words than their more affluent peers by the time they turn four years old. Historically, this “word gap” has solely been identified as a function of socioeconomic status – or more specifically, family income. Multiple studies across a variety of developmental domains, however, have demonstrated that the accumulation of multiple risk factors in early childhood is a stronger predictor of adverse outcomes than any single predictor alone. The purpose of this study was to explore the connection between cumulative risk factors and early home language environments, particularly the rate of adult-child language interactions. The sample included 113 infants and toddlers ranging from 1 month to 44 months of age (M = 23, SD = 9.41) as well as their primary caregivers. Participants completed a demographic survey and a daylong audio recording of their home language environment using LENA technology – which automatically aggregates the total number of adult words spoken to the child (AWC) and the number of conversational turns (CT) between the child and an adult. The findings support that the accumulation of risk factors beyond income accounts for a significantly greater proportion of variance than income alone. Moreover, when combining poverty into the aggregated risk score, the greatest difference in AWC and CT scores occurs between zero and four risk factors. Implications for future directions are discussed.