Comparison of Language Skills for Infants of Mothers with a Low Education Level
| Expressive Language | Receptive Language | Combined Language | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Some | Always | Some | Always | Some | Always | ||||
| Infant age | <7 books | 7+ books | P | <7 books | 7+ books | P | <7 books | 7+ books | P |
| 2 weeks | 95.67 (6.43) | 83.13 (28.19) | 0.300 | 84.50 (8.84) | 84.88 (6.38) | 0.696 | 88.17 (8.01) | 87.50 (5.01) | 0.786 |
| 2 months | 106.50 (5.40) | 104.89 (5.09) | 0.473 | 98.83 (9.10) | 98.33 (8.93) | 0.888 | 103.42 (7.65) | 101.78 (7.34) | 0.725 |
| 4 months | 108.90 (5.47) | 106.78 (4.35) | 0.267 | 100.50 (7.72) | 101.78 (3.53) | 0.968 | 105.70 (7.54) | 105.22 (4.68) | 0.717 |
| 6 months | 103.36 (6.67) | 104.25 (4.27) | 0.618 | 95.00 (5.66) | 97.38 (7.23) | 0.394 | 98.82 (7.47) | 101.00 (6.23) | 0.418 |
| 9 months | 96.89 (6.39) | 102.40 (7.83) | 0.226 | 87.67 (5.20) | 95.80 (7.85) | 0.092 | 91.44 (6.04) | 98.80 (9.18) | 0.183 |
| 12 months | 96.00 (10.61) | 106.50 (7.71) | 0.112 | 86.60 (9.05) | 96.33 (5.68) | 0.051 | 90.10 (11.98) | 102.17 (7.14) | 0.065 |
Note: P values were derived from Wilcoxen–Mann–Whitney tests. Among mothers whose education level was ≤12, there is marginally higher receptive language among those who always read ≥7 books/week in the later phase, at 9 months (P = 0.092) and 12 months (P = 0.051). Also, combined language of the same group of mothers is marginally higher among those who always read ≥7 books at 12 months (P = 0.065).