Exploring the impact of parental education, ethnicity and context on parent and child mental-state language

The mental-state language used in parent-child interactions relates to many aspects of early socio- cognitive development and thus it is important to understand the factors that influence this talk. This study investigated three such factors: socioeconomic status (measured via parental education), ethnicity (Hispanic, non-Hispanic), and interaction context. 55 parents and their 3-year- olds (29 female) participated in two semi-structured interactions (picture-book sharing, free play), and their mental-state language (cognition, emotion, and desire terms) was coded. Context impacted both parent and child mental-state language, though the nature of this effect varied across type of mental-state term, parental education, and ethnicity. We also found that higher- educated parents produced more cognition talk than lower-educated parents and this difference was larger for non-Hispanic dyads. These results suggest multiple factors interact to impact parent and child mental-state language and underscore the importance of examining this language in diverse samples and interactive contexts.