%0 Journal Article
%T MothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms and their childrenĄ¯s Turkish heritage language vocabulary development
%A Birgit Leyendecker
%A Carol Scheffner Hammer
%A Dana Bitetti
%A Jessica A Willard
%A Lauren M Cycyk
%J International Journal of Bilingualism
%@ 1756-6878
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1367006917709095
%X This study examined associations between mothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms and the Turkish heritage vocabulary of their school-age children. We expected that mothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms would be associated with lower Turkish vocabulary scores in fourth grade as well as slower growth in vocabulary scores from fourth to sixth grade. We collected longitudinal data on 139 mothers of Turkish origin in Germany and their children in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. Mothers reported on the level of their depressive symptoms, and children were administered a Turkish receptive vocabulary test. Data were analyzed with growth curve modeling. MothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with childrenĄ¯s vocabulary in fourth grade. However, mothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms did predict slower growth in childrenĄ¯s vocabulary from fourth to sixth grade. The higher a motherĄ¯s depressive symptoms score, the slower the growth of her childĄ¯s Turkish vocabulary. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the association between mothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms and their childrenĄ¯s vocabulary development during the school-age years, and the second to examine it for heritage language development. Our findings suggest that mothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms may be one risk factor limiting parents in successfully passing on the heritage language to their children, even during school-age. Families as well as medical, psychological, and educational professionals should be made aware of the role of mothersĄ¯ depressive symptoms in their childrenĄ¯s language development
%K Heritage language
%K Turkish vocabulary
%K bilingual
%K child language development
%K maternal depression
%K depressive symptoms
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1367006917709095