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We examined longitudinal direct associations between mothers' and fathers' emotion socialization behaviors (ESB) at 18 and 24 months and toddlers' social competence (SC) at 24 and 30 months in a sample of ethnically diverse families (n = 128) participating in a parenting intervention study. We also investigated interaction effects between mothers' and fathers' ESBs and between each parent's ESBs and child emotionality. We coded parents' ESBs to their toddlers' positive and negative emotions during no-toy play and a clean-up task. Mothers reported on their toddlers' social competence and emotionality. Using multiple linear regression modeling, we report three findings. First, mothers' and fathers' most frequent ESBs were emotion coaching and ignoring to positive and negative emotions, respectively, but emotion coaching of positive emotions by either parent was not associated with children's SC. Second, mothers' and fathers' ESBs to negative emotions, however, were associated with children's SC, but these associations varied by child emotionality and the other parent's ESBs. Third, fathers' non-supportive ESBs to negative emotions at 18 months were directly and positively associated with greater SC at 30 months, but their emotion coaching was significantly and positively related to children's SC only when mothers did not provide any emotion coaching. The association between mothers' non-supportive ESBs to negative emotions at 24 months and 30-month SC was negative only for children high in emotionality. These findings show that both mothers' and fathers' ESBs shape their children's social competence in different ways, which needs to be considered when developing programs for children., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Infants learn language through the back-and-forth interactions with their parents where they "serve" by uttering sounds, gesturing, or looking and parents "return" in prompt (i.e., close in time) and meaningful (i.e., semantically relevant to the object of interest) ways. In a sample of 9-month-old infants (n = 148) and their mothers and fathers (n = 296 parents) from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds, we examined the associations between "serve and return" (SR) parent-child interactions and children's language skills at 18 and 24 months. We also examined the moderation effects between maternal and paternal SR interactions on language outcomes. SR interactions were transcribed and coded from videotaped parent-child toy play activities during home visits. We report three findings. First, mothers who provided more meaningful responses to their child's serves at 9 months had children with higher expressive language scores at 18 months. Second, fathers' prompt responses (i.e., within 3 s) at 9 months were associated with higher receptive language scores at 18 months, but their meaningful responses were negatively associated with receptive language scores at 24 months. Third, the negative association between fathers' meaningful responses and children's receptive language scores was reduced (compensated) when mothers' meaningful responses were high. Findings show that infants in ethnically and socioeconomically diverse families engage in frequent SR interactions with both mothers and fathers, who make unique contributions to infants' language development. We discuss implications for programs and policies that aim to promote early language development and reduce gaps in school readiness., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest disclosure The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Using data from a diverse sample of low-income African American and Latino mothers, fathers, and their young children who participated in Early Head Start (n = 61), the current study explored the association between parents' reading quality (i.e. metalingual talk) while reading with their 2-year-old children and their children's receptive vocabulary skills at pre-kindergarten. It further examined whether children's interest in reading mediated this association. There were three main findings. First, most mothers and fathers in our sample read relatively often to their children (a few times a week) and used some metalingual talk; fathers used more than mothers. Second, controlling for parental education, mothers' and fathers' early reading quality significantly predicted children's receptive vocabulary skills at pre-kindergarten. Third, children's interest in reading mediated the association between mothers' and fathers' reading quality and children's receptive vocabulary scores. These findings have important implications for programs aimed at fostering low-income children's vocabularies and suggest that both mothers and fathers need to be included in programs.

This study examines whether levels of father engagement (e.g., verbal stimulation, caregiving, and physical play) vary by race/ethnicity using a model that controls for fathers' human capital, mental health, and family relationships. It also tests whether the models work similarly across race/ethnic groups. Its sample of N=5,089 infants and their families is drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). We found that, after including controls, African American and Latino fathers had higher levels of engagement in caregiving and physical play activities than White fathers. There were no differences in verbal stimulation activities across race/ethnicity. Fathers' education (college level) predicted more verbally stimulating activities whereas fathers' report of couple conflict predicted less caregiving and physical play. Although levels of engagement differed across the groups, the overall models did not differ by race/ethnicity, except for physical play. African American mothers who reported high levels of depressive symptoms had partners who engaged in more physical play than White mothers with high levels of depressive symptoms.