Word gap: When money’s tight, parents talk less to kids

A new study suggests money worries prompt parents to talk less to their kids, exacerbating the "word gap.” (iStockphoto) Three decades ago, child development researchers found that low-income children heard tens of millions fewer words in their homes than their more affluent peers by the time they reached kindergarten. This "word gap" was and continues to be linked to a socioeconomic disparity in academic achievement. While parenting deficiencies have long been blamed for the word gap, new UC Berkeley research implicates the economic context in which parenting takes place - in other words, the wealth gap. The findings, published this month in the journal Developmental Science , provide the first evidence that parents may talk less to their kids when experiencing financial scarcity. "We were interested in what happens when parents think about or experience financial scarcity and found evidence that such strain could suppress their speech to their children," said study senior author Mahesh Srinivasan, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. "Our results suggest that parenting training may not be sufficient to close the academic achievement gap without addressing the broader issue of income inequality," Srinivasan added. The study's preliminary results lend credence to the developmental and educational benefits of such poverty-cutting government programs as the federal American Rescue Plan's Child Tax Credit and other supplemental cash payouts for needy families.