<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>In this paper we examine whether – conditional on other child endowments and family inputs – bilingual children achieve different language, emotional, and pro-social developmental outcomes. Our data, which allow us to analyze children's development in a dynamic framework, are extracted from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). We model the development production functions for bilingual children using cumulative value-added specifications, which account for parental investments and children's own ability. Analysis based on child age confirms that bilingual children initially have worse language skills than their monolingual peers. The commencement of schooling appears to attenuate these differences, and by age seven, bilingual children have a developmental advantage. We find evidence of a positive relationship between bilingualism and some aspects of emotional development, and it is mainly boys who appear to benefit from their bilingual background.</p>
</abstract>

In this paper we examine whether – conditional on other child endowments and family inputs – bilingual children achieve different language, emotional, and pro-social developmental outcomes. Our data, which allow us to analyze children's development in a dynamic framework, are extracted from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). We model the development production functions for bilingual children using cumulative value-added specifications, which account for parental investments and children's own ability. Analysis based on child age confirms that bilingual children initially have worse language skills than their monolingual peers. The commencement of schooling appears to attenuate these differences, and by age seven, bilingual children have a developmental advantage. We find evidence of a positive relationship between bilingualism and some aspects of emotional development, and it is mainly boys who appear to benefit from their bilingual background.

The bilingual gap in children's language, emotional, and pro-social development

School of Economics, Faculty of Art and Social Science

Griffith Business School, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics

IZA Journal of Labor Economics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The bilingual gap in children's language, emotional, and pro-social development"}

In this paper we examine whether – conditional on other child endowments and family inputs – bilingual children achieve different language, emotional, and...

The bilingual gap in children's language, emotional, and pro-social development

Publié en ligne: 29 janv. 2021

Pages: -

Accepté: 23 nov. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/izajole-2021-0001

Mots clés
cognitive and non-cognitive skills, production function, value-added model, cohort studies

© 2021 Deborah A. Cobb-Clark et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The bilingual gap in children's language, emotional, and pro-social development

Publié en ligne: 29 janv. 2021

Pages: -

Accepté: 23 nov. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/izajole-2021-0001

Mots cléscognitive and non-cognitive skills, production function, value-added model, cohort studies

© 2021 Deborah A. Cobb-Clark et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
cognitive and non-cognitive skills, production function, value-added model, cohort studies