Parental Involvement, Gender Ideologies, and Socioeconomic Factors: Implications for Early Language Development in...

Research suggests that increased paternal involvement in childrearing has a positive effect on child development. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the role of fathers in their children's language development. The current study aimed to analyze the impact of parental involvement on language development of preschool children. It used a cross-sectional, correlational design to investigate the associations between parental involvement, particularly in language-promoting activities, and young children's language development, while also considering the role of parental gender ideologies and sociodemographic factors. Data were collected from 150 parents (fathers and mothers) and 80 children (average age of 47.35 ± 6.85 months), and two-family arrangements were compared. Parents completed extensive questionnaires, and children's linguistic skills were assessed using the European-Portuguese Preschool Language Assessment. The findings show that parental involvement, namely, reading to preschool children by both fathers and mothers, contributes significantly to their linguistic development, although in different ways. Parents with higher egalitarian gender ideologies tended to participate more actively in language stimulation activities. In addition, children from families with a more egalitarian division of parental tasks performed better in language development. Paternal and maternal involvement play a differentiating role in the language development of preschool children.

These results reinforce the importance of promoting balanced parenting practices and programs that encourage the active participation of both parents from the early years of life, as well as the training of education and health care professionals, in order to value the role of the father in child development, contributing to richer contexts for child development.