Early Parenting Trajectories and Children's Language Development: Differences Between Adolescent and Adult Mothers

Parents are recognized as primary contributors to children's well-being (Borkowski, Ramey, & Bristol-Power, 2002). In parenting research, measures of parenting at one point in time are typically utilized to predict children's development. However, since parenting is a dynamic process, there is a good reason to investigate parenting behaviors from a longitudinal framework. The present study used latent growth curve modeling to investigate changes in parenting over the first 18 months of life and how parenting is related to child language development at 24 months of age. Cognitive readiness to parent and support from fathers acted as predictors of initial parenting practices and changes in parenting over time. Group differences in these relationships were evaluated for adolescents and adult mothers.