'Dads influnce tots' language skills more than moms'

Fathers have greater impact on their children's language development between ages 2 and 3, a study

Fathers have greater impact on their children's language development between ages 2 and 3, a study conducted by the University of North Carolina has found out.

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The study found that in families where both the parents are working, fathers have greater influence on their kids’ language skills, as compared to the mothers.

The Researchers videotaped pairs of parents and their 2-year-old children in their homes during playtime, and they found out that children whose fathers used more diverse vocabularies had greater language development.

However, the mothers' vocabulary did not significantly affect a child's language skills

"Most previous studies on early language development focused on mothers. These findings underscore that for two-parent, dual earner families, fathers should be included in all efforts to improve language development and school readiness," Nadya Panscofar, a graduate research assistant and an author of the study, said.

A secondary finding of this study was that the high-quality childcare during the first three years of life was associated with higher scores at age 3 on a test of expressive language development.

However, childcare accounted for less variance than family language.

The researchers also found that the parents' level of education had a significant impact on children's language abilities.

The findings of the study have been published in the online version of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.