Independent Effects of Bilingualism and Socioeconomic Status on Language Ability and Executive Functioning

Overview

Journal Cognition

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Psychology

Date 2013 Dec 31

PMID 24374020

Citations 65

Authors

Alejandra Calvo

Ellen Bialystok

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

One hundred and seventy-five children who were 6-years old were assigned to one of four groups that differed in socioeconomic status (SES; working class or middle class) and language background (monolingual or bilingual). The children completed tests of nonverbal intelligence, language tests assessing receptive vocabulary and attention based on picture naming, and two tests of executive functioning. All children performed equivalently on the basic intelligence tests, but performance on the language and executive functioning tasks was influenced by both SES and bilingualism. Middle-class children outperformed working-class children on all measures, and bilingual children obtained lower scores than monolingual children on language tests but higher scores than monolingual children on the executive functioning tasks. There were no interactions with either group factors or task factors. Thus, each of SES and bilingualism contribute significantly and independently to children's development irrespective of the child's level on the other factor.

Citing Articles

The Effects of Bilingualism on the Executive Control Abilities of the Prader-Willi Syndrome Population.

Garcia-Alcaraz E, Liceras J J Psycholinguist Res. 2025; 54(2):10.

PMID: 40069504 PMC: 11897116. DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10123-3.

The association of multilingualism with diverse language families and cognition among adults with and without education in India.

Petrosyan S, Strangmann I, Nichols E, Meijer E, Briceno E, Narayanan S Neuropsychology. 2025; 39(3):223-234.

PMID: 40063370 PMC: 11902890. DOI: 10.1037/neu0000988.

Working Memory as the Focus of the Bilingual Effect in Executive Functions.

Chen J, Li Z, Xiong Z, Liu G Behav Sci (Basel). 2025; 15(2).

PMID: 40001765 PMC: 11851412. DOI: 10.3390/bs15020134.

A longitudinal study of math skills in heritage bilingual children: profiles of strengths and weaknesses.

Bonifacci P, Serena B, Codeluppi F, Peri B Psychol Res. 2024; 89(1):8.

PMID: 39535558 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-024-02045-5.

Individual differences in the perception of phonetic category structure predict speech-in-noise performance.

Myers E, Phillips M, Skoe E J Acoust Soc Am. 2024; 156(3):1707-1719.

PMID: 39269161 PMC: 11401644. DOI: 10.1121/10.0028583.

References

Stevens C, Lauinger B, Neville H . Differences in the neural mechanisms of selective attention in children from different socioeconomic backgrounds: an event-related brain potential study. Dev Sci. 2009; 12(4):634-46. PMC: 2718768. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00807.x. View

Kovacs A, Mehler J . Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(16):6556-60. PMC: 2672482. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0811323106. View

Morton J, Harper S . What did Simon say? Revisiting the bilingual advantage. Dev Sci. 2007; 10(6):719-26. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00623.x. View

Morales J, Calvo A, Bialystok E . Working memory development in monolingual and bilingual children. J Exp Child Psychol. 2012; 114(2):187-202. PMC: 3508395. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.09.002. View

Diamond A . Development of the ability to use recall to guide action, as indicated by infants' performance on AB. Child Dev. 1985; 56(4):868-83. View

Noble K, McCandliss B, Farah M . Socioeconomic gradients predict individual differences in neurocognitive abilities. Dev Sci. 2007; 10(4):464-80. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00600.x. View

Noble K, Wolmetz M, Ochs L, Farah M, McCandliss B . Brain-behavior relationships in reading acquisition are modulated by socioeconomic factors. Dev Sci. 2006; 9(6):642-54. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00542.x. View

Oller D, Pearson B, Cobo-Lewis A . Profile effects in early bilingual language and literacy. Appl Psycholinguist. 2012; 28(2):191-230. PMC: 3358777. DOI: 10.1017/S0142716407070117. View

Gray J, Thompson P . Neurobiology of intelligence: science and ethics. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2004; 5(6):471-82. DOI: 10.1038/nrn1405. View

10.

Rescorla L, Alley A . Validation of the language development survey (LDS): a parent report tool for identifying language delay in toddlers. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2001; 44(2):434-45. DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2001/035). View

11.

Adi-Japha E, Berberich-Artzi J, Libnawi A . Cognitive flexibility in drawings of bilingual children. Child Dev. 2010; 81(5):1356-66. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01477.x. View

12.

Greenberg A, Bellana B, Bialystok E . Perspective-Taking Ability in Bilingual Children: Extending Advantages in Executive Control to Spatial Reasoning. Cogn Dev. 2013; 28(1):41-50. PMC: 3593058. DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2012.10.002. View

13.

Bradley R, Corwyn R . Socioeconomic status and child development. Annu Rev Psychol. 2001; 53:371-99. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233. View

14.

Ardila A, Rosselli M, Matute E, Guajardo S . The influence of the parents' educational level on the development of executive functions. Dev Neuropsychol. 2005; 28(1):539-60. DOI: 10.1207/s15326942dn2801_5. View

15.

Locke A, Ginsborg J, Peers I . Development and disadvantage: implications for the early years and beyond. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2002; 37(1):3-15. DOI: 10.1080/13682820110089911. View

16.

Engel de Abreu P, Cruz-Santos A, Tourinho C, Martin R, Bialystok E . Bilingualism enriches the poor: enhanced cognitive control in low-income minority children. Psychol Sci. 2012; 23(11):1364-71. PMC: 4070309. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612443836. View

17.

Mezzacappa E . Alerting, orienting, and executive attention: developmental properties and sociodemographic correlates in an epidemiological sample of young, urban children. Child Dev. 2004; 75(5):1373-86. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00746.x. View

18.

Akhtar N, Menjivar J . Cognitive and linguistic correlates of early exposure to more than one language. Adv Child Dev Behav. 2012; 42:41-78. DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-394388-0.00002-2. View

19.

McLoyd V . Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. Am Psychol. 1998; 53(2):185-204. DOI: 10.1037//0003-066x.53.2.185. View

20.

Bialystok E, Martin M . Attention and inhibition in bilingual children: evidence from the dimensional change card sort task. Dev Sci. 2004; 7(3):325-39. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00351.x. View