FAMILY WORLDS - COUPLE SATISFACTION, PARENTING STYLE, AND MOTHERS AND FATHERS SPEECH TO YOUNG-CHILDREN

The relations between some family context variables and the conversational behavior of 36 mothers and fathers engaged with their 3.5-year-olds in play were investigated. Transcripts were coded for types of conversational functions and structure of parent speech. To assess family functioning, independent ratings were obtained of parenting styles and couples' reports of marital satisfaction. Mothers' and fathers' conversational styles were similar. Predicted correlations of parent speech functions with parenting style were found. Variations in maternal conversational responsiveness to children at age 3.5 predicted children's verbal academic outcomes at age 5.5. Marital satisfaction was associated with aspects of parent speech, demonstrating the importance of attending to family context in the study of language development.