Breaking the Cycle of Intergeneration Literacy Deficits: Describing Linguistic Interactions Between Adolescent Mothers and Their Young Children

The purpose of this pilot descriptive study was to begin the exploration of adolescent mothers\u27 and their children\u27s sociodemographic characteristics and language and literacy skills, the home literacy environment (HLE) provided by adolescent mothers, and the quality of linguistic interactions between adolescent mothers and their children. Eight adolescent mother-child dyads were recruited from local school counties. Data were collected through demographic and HLE questionnaires, various language standardized measures (i.e., Preschool Language Scales, Fifth Edition and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Fifth Edition), and scored interactions between mother-child dyads using the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO). The participating families\u27 sociodemographic were similar to other adolescent families when compared to in national census. The majority of mothers (n = 7) demonstrated below average language skills according to one standardized assessment and provided HLEs of varying quality across the sample. Most children (n = 7) had language scores that fell within the average range of the standardization sample according to one standardize assessment of global language skills. Adolescent mothers demonstrated strong affectionate behaviors, and emerging responsive, encouraging, and teaching behaviors when interacting with their children according to the PICCOLO. This study provides unique data on adolescent mothers\u27 language characteristics that have not been clearly published in the existing literature. Future research including larger sample sizes, more diverse measures of adolescent mothers\u27 language, literacy, and demographic characteristics, and use of a mixed methods research approach is recommended to inform clinical practice with adolescent family units