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Vocabulary competence in first- and secondborn siblings of the same chronological age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2004

MARC H. BORNSTEIN ,
DIANE B. LEACH  and
O. MAURICE HAYNES
MARC H. BORNSTEIN
Affiliation:
Child and Family Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services
DIANE B. LEACH
Affiliation:
Child and Family Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services
O. MAURICE HAYNES
Affiliation:
Child and Family Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services
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Abstract

We explored vocabulary competence in 55 firstborn and secondborn sibling pairs when each child reached 1;8 using multiple measures of maternal report, child speech, and experimenter assessment. Measures from each of the three sources were interrelated. Firstborns' vocabulary competence exceeded secondborns' only in maternal reports, not in child speech or in experimenter assessments. Firstborn girls outperformed boys on all vocabulary competence measures, and secondborn girls outperformed boys on most measures. Vocabulary competence was independent of the gender composition and, generally, of the age difference in sibling pairs. Vocabulary competence in firstborns and secondborns was only weakly related.

Type
Note
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , November 2004 , pp. 855 - 873
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We thank K. M. Painter and C. Varron for assistance.