Bills, Babies, and (language) Barriers: Associations Among Economic Strain, Parenting, and Primary Language During the Newborn Period

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine associations among economic strain, parenting self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and parent primary language in a universally low-income sample of parents with newborns.

Background: Previous research links increased economic strain to lower levels of parenting self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction among socioeconomically diverse parents with older children. Little research has examined whether primary language shapes the associations among economic strain, parenting self-efficacy, and parenting satisfaction.

Method: Parents ( = 194, = 30.91) completed self-report surveys measuring economic strain, parenting self-efficacy, and parenting satisfaction. Parents' ethnic self-identification and primary language were used to stratify parents into three groups: Latinx Spanish speakers, Latinx English speakers, and non-Latinx English speakers.

Results: Regression analyses revealed that economic strain was negatively associated with both parenting self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction. Further, the negative association between economic strain and parenting self-efficacy was stronger for Latinx Spanish speakers.

Conclusion: Economic strain may negatively influence parenting self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction during the newborn period. Parents whose primary language is Spanish may be disproportionately affected by economic strain.

Implications: Parents of newborns may benefit from increased economic supports in linguistically responsive pediatric care and social service settings.