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

INFORMAZIONI SU QUESTO ARTICOLO

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Figure 1

Children's bilingual status over time.Source: The UK MCS. Authors’ calculations are based on a bilingual sample.
Children's bilingual status over time.Source: The UK MCS. Authors’ calculations are based on a bilingual sample.

The effects of bilingualism on language, emotional, and pro-social development – OLS and GMM dynamic estimates

(1) (2) (3)

OLS no past endowments OLS with past endowments System GMM effects
Panel (A): Outcome: z-Verbal Reasoning skills

Bilingualw−1 −0.102*** (0.036) −0.032 (0.031) 0.040 (0.106)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw−1 0.278*** (0.014) 0.602*** (0.218)
z-SDQ scorew−1 −0.092*** (0.013) −0.743** (0.352)
Year dummies Yes Yes Yes
Hansen p-value 0.243
Arellano–Bond test AR(2) p-value 0.152

Panel (B): Outcome: z-SDQ score

Bilingualw−1 −0.006 (0.037) −0.049* (0.027) −0.018 (0.048)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw−1 −0.066*** (0.011) −0.069 (0.093)
z-SDQ scorew−1 0.490*** (0.014) 0.266* (0.155)
Year dummies Yes Yes Yes
Hansen p-value 0.551
Arellano–Bond test AR(2) p-value 0.753

Panel (C): Outcome: z-Pro-social score

Bilingualw−1 −0.001 (0.025) 0.014 (0.021) −0.028 (0.033)
z-Pro-social scorew−1 0.343*** (0.019) 0.287* (0.157)
Year dummies Yes Yes Yes
Hansen p-value 0.344
Arellano–Bond test AR(2) p-value 0.238
N (Observations) 6310 6310 6310
N (Individuals) 2269

Probability models to attrite from the sample on verbal, SDQ and pro-social outcomes

(1) (2) (3)

Verbal SDQ Pro-social
Bilingual 0.024 (0.097) 0.065 (0.095) 0.026 (0.091)
z-Verbal reasoning −0.078** (0.037)
z-SDQ −0.010 (0.029)
z-Pro-social 0.036 (0.027)
Child's age 0.023** (0.009) 0.023** (0.009) 0.023*** (0.008)
Male 0.062 (0.054) 0.077 (0.054) 0.100** (0.050)
Mother age −0.011** (0.005) −0.013** (0.005) −0.014*** (0.005)
White 0.158* (0.082) 0.170** (0.079) 0.114 (0.075)
Young migrant 0.019 (0.062) −0.078 (0.061) −0.033 (0.057)
Mother non-English −0.040 (0.081) −0.099 (0.080) −0.037 (0.078)
Father non-English −0.079 (0.081) −0.025 (0.079) −0.064 (0.078)
Married −0.147** (0.072) −0.189*** (0.071) −0.142** (0.067)
Mother with high degree −0.187*** (0.067) −0.213*** (0.066) −0.207*** (0.063)
Father with high degree 0.008 (0.057) 0.058 (0.057) 0.023 (0.052)
Frequency of reading to the child 0.006 (0.024) −0.012 (0.025) 0.002 (0.021)
Frequency of the child being taken to the library −0.004 (0.038) 0.015 (0.037) −0.007 (0.035)
Below 60% of the median UK income −0.069 (0.066) 0.020 (0.066) −0.042 (0.061)
Natural mother presented in Household (HH) 0.292 (0.417) 0.113 (0.476) 0.288 (0.423)
z-Birth weight 0.001 (0.031) 0.033 (0.031) 0.010 (0.028)
Number of siblings −0.000 (0.026) 0.015 (0.026) 0.010 (0.024)
Wald test 68.6 83.71 77.42
Pseudo R2 0.0231 0.0278 0.0218

Baseline summary statistics by attrition by wave 6

Variable Remained Attrited Difference
SDQ 10.17 [5.49] 10.07 [5.56] −0.10 (0.24)
Verbal reasoning 44.83 [12.52] 43.55 [12.34] −1.29*** (0.53)
Male 0.47 [0.50] 0.47 [0.50] 0.01 (0.02)
Mother born non-English 0.58 [0.49] 0.54 [0.50] −0.04* (0.02)
Young migrant 0.6 [0.49] 0.56 [0.50] −0.04* (0.02)
Mother with higher qualification 0.43 [0.50] 0.37 [0.48] −0.06*** (0.02)
Father with higher qualification 0.59 [0.49] 0.62 [0.48] 0.03 (0.02)
Below 60% of the median UK income 0.39 [0.49] 0.44 [0.50] 0.05*** (0.02)

Children who switched bilingual status over the observed period

Stayed bilingual Stayed monolingual Bilingual – wave 2 and moved to monolingual Bilingual – waves 2, 3 and moved to monolingual

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Verbal reasoning 6.43 2.39 7.54 2.69 8.16 2.81 6.75 2.78
SDQ index 14.07 3.87 13.10 3.79 12.20 2.66 13.82 4.01
Pro-social index 8.47 1.83 8.42 1.74 8.62 1.66 8.63 1.80
Male 0.41 0.49 0.48 0.50 0.42 0.50 0.49 0.50
White 0.11 0.31 0.82 0.38 0.62 0.49 0.26 0.44
Mother with high degree 0.34 0.48 0.50 0.50 0.69 0.47 0.44 0.50
Father with high degree 0.55 0.50 0.58 0.49 0.76 0.43 0.67 0.48
Below 60% of the median UK income 0.51 0.50 0.19 0.39 0.13 0.34 0.46 0.50
Young migrant 0.49 0.50 0.80 0.40 0.51 0.51 0.53 0.50
Number of siblings 1.89 1.18 1.49 0.98 1.40 1.03 1.89 1.28
Natural mother – in the family 0.97 0.16 0.98 0.13 1.00 0.00 0.98 0.13
Mother non-English 0.91 0.29 0.24 0.42 0.84 0.37 0.84 0.37
Father non-English 0.87 0.34 0.25 0.43 0.80 0.40 0.84 0.37

Delta: size of proportional selection on unobservable to drive “bilingual” to zero

Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Language development
δ 1.18 1.12 −13.29 1.59 3.31
Emotional development
δ 1.50 −0.54 1.29 3.25 3.28
Pro-social behavior
δ −6.39 −5.79 3.87 6.72 −15.79

The effects of bilingualism on language, emotional, and pro-social development – PSM analysis

Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): Outcome: z-Verbal reasoning skills

Multivariate nearest neighbor matching

Bilingualw−1 −0.293*** (0.102) −0.305*** (0.071) 0.164* (0.092) −0.089 (0.063) 0.033 (0.071)
Kernel matching
Bilingualw−1 −0.361** (0.142) −0.503** (0.215) 0.005 (0.093) −0.060 (0.125) 0.045 (0.079)

Inverse probability weighting

Bilingualw−1 −0.374** (0.156) −0.499*** (0.136) 0.073 (0.129) −0.024 (0.142) 0.011 (0.066)
N 1993 1682 1693 1504 1361

Panel (B): Outcome: z-SDQ score

Multivariate nearest neighbor matching

Bilingualw−1 0.183** (0.093) −0.012 (0.095) 0.024 (0.082) 0.026 (0.091) 0.018 (0.087)

Kernel matching

Bilingualw−1 0.106 (0.128) 0.021 (0.152) 0.084 (0.119) −0.220* (0.125) 0.042 (0.084)

Inverse probability weighting

Bilingualw−1 0.121 (0.171) 0.078 (0.142) 0.177 (0.198) −0.208 (0.127) 0.001 (0.083)
N 1993 1682 1693 1504 1361

Panel (C): Outcome: z-Pro-social score

Multivariate nearest neighbor matching

Bilingualw−1 −0.228** (0.091) −0.010 (0.063) 0.065 (0.067) −0.034 (0.096) −0.041 (0.070)

Kernel matching

Bilingualw−1 −0.294** (0.119) −0.002 (0.214) 0.023 (0.090) −0.122 (0.142) −0.073 (0.092)

Inverse probability weighting

Bilingualw−1 −0.353*** (0.108) −0.071 (0.159) −0.051 (0.155) 0.021 (0.264) −0.062 (0.075)
N 1993 1682 1693 1504 1361

The effects of bilingualism on language development; the selected coefficient is child's age

z-Verbal reasoning skills

(I) 2–6 Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): OLS with basic controls

Bilingualw−1 −0.629*** (0.053) −0.587*** (0.057) 0.069 (0.059) −0.246*** (0.064) −0.153** (0.059)
R2 0.276 0.187 0.022 0.050 0.033

Panel (B): OLS basic + full controls

Bilingualw−1 −0.352*** (0.062) −0.379*** (0.067) 0.096 (0.071) −0.037 (0.071) −0.077 (0.062)
R2 0.379 0.308 0.111 0.176 0.092

Panel (C): OLS basic + full controls + past endowments

Bilingualw−1 −0.345*** (0.061) −0.199*** (0.062) 0.219*** (0.067) −0.022 (0.068) −0.085 (0.062)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw−1 0.403*** (0.024) 0.294*** (0.025) 0.255*** (0.030) 0.202*** (0.026)
z-SDQ scorew−1 −0.039* (0.021) −0.182*** (0.026) −0.030 (0.028) −0.043 (0.028)
R2 0.394 0.418 0.217 0.233 0.135
N 1993 1682 1693 1504 1361

The effects of bilingualism on language, emotional, and pro-social development, excluding those who arrived in the UK after 1997 – by child's age

Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): Outcome: z-Verbal reasoning skills

Bilingualw−1 −0.368*** (0.065) −0.172*** (0.066) 0.215*** (0.073) −0.040 (0.072) −0.048 (0.066)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw−1 0.393*** (0.025) 0.298*** (0.027) 0.256*** (0.031) 0.210*** (0.027)
z-SDQ scorew−1 −0.035 (0.022) −0.197*** (0.028) −0.040 (0.030) −0.033 (0.029)
N 1812 1525 1491 1329 1194
R2 0.397 0.402 0.228 0.232 0.141

Panel (B): Outcome: z-SDQ score

Bilingualw−1 0.109 (0.072) −0.100 (0.063) −0.031 (0.056) −0.117* (0.064) 0.029 (0.075)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw−1 −0.040* (0.024) −0.067*** (0.023) −0.100*** (0.025) −0.022 (0.032)
z-SDQ score w−1 0.502*** (0.026) 0.565*** (0.025) 0.547*** (0.026) 0.520*** (0.033)
N 1812 1525 1491 1329 1194
R2 0.187 0.365 0.430 0.410 0.309

Panel (C): Outcome: z-Pro-social score

Bilingualw−1 −0.051 (0.076) −0.014 (0.079) −0.004 (0.068) 0.070 (0.077) 0.112 (0.068)
z-Pro-social scorew−1 0.311*** (0.027) 0.411*** (0.027) 0.354*** (0.034) 0.399*** (0.034)
N 1812 1525 1491 1329 1194
R2 0.065 0.153 0.228 0.211 0.266

The effects of bilingualism on pro-social development; the selected coefficient is child's age

z-Pro-social score

(l) 2–6 Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): OLS with basic controls

Bilingualw−1 −0.114** (0.058) 0.051 (0.062) −0.014 (0.060) −0.070 (0.070) −0.048 (0.070)
R2 0.020 0.034 0.021 0.023 0.028

Panel (B): OLS basic + full controls

Bilingualw−1 −0.089 (0.072) 0.065 (0.086) 0.035 (0.070) 0.014 (0.081) −0.030 (0.073)
R2 0.053 0.055 0.049 0.046 0.048

Panel (C): OLS basic + full controls + past endowments

Bilingualw−1 −0.088 (0.071) −0.002 (0.078) 0.039 (0.063) 0.071 (0.075) 0.004 (0.066)
z-Pro-social scorew−1 0.306*** (0.026) 0.399*** (0.026) 0.395*** (0.032) 0.414*** (0.030)
R2 0.062 0.148 0.225 0.183 0.231
N 1993 1682 1693 1504 1361

Summary statistics of selected variables

Monolingual Bilingual Difference
Outcomes

Language development (verbal reasoning skills)

Age 3 50.42 [10.68] 38.87 [11.30] −11.55***
Age 5 55.1 [10.69] 43.95 [11.65] −11.15***
Age 7 115.47 [18.07] 114.88 [17.35] −0.59
Age 11 60.15 [9.70] 56.98 [10.60] −3.17***
Age 14 6.98 [3.38] 6.1 [2.80] −0.88***

Emotional development (SDQ score)

Age 3 9.11 [5.00] 11.18 [5.88] 2.07***
Age 5 6.89 [4.60] 8.49 [5.29] 1.61***
Age 7 6.87 [5.02] 8.26 [5.20] 1.39***
Age 11 7.07 [5.37] 7.71 [5.25] 0.64**
Age 14 13.3 [3.89] 14.35 [4.33] 1.05***

Pro–social development

Age 3 7.40 [1.87] 7.46 [1.99] 0.06
Age 5 8.42 [1.66] 8.27 [1.80] −0.15**
Age 7 8.63 [1.60] 8.46 [1.74] −0.17**
Age 11 8.77 [5.37] 8.69 [1.63] −0.08
Age 14 8.32 [3.89] 8.25 [1.95] −0.08

Time–varying controls

Child's age in months
Age 3 37.62 [2.34] 38.24 [3.21] 0.62***
Age 5 62.67 [2.84] 62.63 [2.83] −0.04
Age 7 86.96 [2.84] 87.12 [2.85] 0.16
Age 11 128.06 [5.68] 127.97 [5.74] −0.09
Age 14 165.06 [5.42] 165.11 [5.45] 0.05

Below 60% of the median UK income

Age 3 0.29 [0.45] 0.54 [0.50] 0.25***
Age 5 0.27 [0.45] 0.57 [0.50] 0.30***
Age 7 0.26 [0.44] 0.55 [0.50] 0.29***
Age 11 0.28 [0.45] 0.56 [0.50] 0.28***
9 months: Gross motor delay 0.11 [0.32] 0.14 [0.35] 0.03*
9 months: Fine motor delay 0.12 [0.33] 0.14 [0.35] 0.02
9 months: Communication gesture delay 0.41 [0.49] 0.43 [0.50] 0.03

Parental inputs

9 months: Importance of stimulating the baby 0.36 [0.57] 0.58 [0.67] 0.22***
9 months: Importance of talking to the baby 0.15 [0.38] 0.31 [0.53] 0.16***
9 months: Importance of cuddling the baby 0.12 [0.34] 0.24 [0.51] 0.13***
9 months: Importance of regular sleep/feeding time 0.59 [0.75] 0.75 [0.82] 0.16***
Age 3: Frequency of the child being taken to the library 0.56 [0.78] 0.41 [0.73] −0.15***
Age 3: Frequency reading to the child 3.31 [0.98] 2.67 [1.34] −0.63***
Age 5: Frequency of the child being taken to the library 0.73 [0.67] 0.68 [0.72] −0.05*
Age 5: Frequency reading to the child 2.45 [0.63] 2.31 [0.75] −0.14***
Age 7: Frequency of the child being taken to the library 0.75 [0.66] 0.8 [0.72] 0.05
Age 7: Frequency reading to the child 2.11 [1.59] 2.36 [1.45] 0.26***

Time invariant controls

Male 0.52 [0.50] 0.5 [0.50] −0.02
Birth weight 1.23 [0.75] 1.71 [1.05] 0.48***
Young migrant 0.77 [0.42] 0.52 [0.50] −0.24***
Mother born non–English country 0.26 [0.44] 0.88 [0.33] 0.62***
Father born non–English country 0.27 [0.44] 0.88 [0.33] 0.61***
Child is white 0.72 [0.45] 0.12 [0.33] −0.60***
Mother with higher qualification 0.43 [0.50] 0.32 [0.47] −0.11***
Father with higher qualification 0.59 [0.49] 0.57 [0.50] −0.01

Heterogeneous effects of bilingualism, by children's gender

Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): Outcome: z-Verbal Reasoning skills

Boys

Bilingualw−1 −0.320*** (0.085) −0.207** (0.090) 0.242** (0.110) 0.090 (0.101) −0.200** (0.094)
N 1012 840 832 731 662
R2 0.381 0.425 0.227 0.223 0.157

Girls

Bilingualw−1 −0.352*** (0.087) −0.179** (0.084) 0.148* (0.085) −0.155* (0.089) 0.007 (0.083)
N 981 842 861.000 773 699
R2 0.424 0.440 0.224 0.268 0.132

Panel (B): Outcome: z-SDQ score

Boys

Bilingualw−1 0.145 (0.096) −0.165* (0.092) −0.060 (0.080) −0.187** (0.088) −0.076 (0.105)
N 1012 840 832 731 662
R2 0.175 0.357 0.442 0.427 0.323

Girls

Bilingualw−1 0.093 (0.100) −0.041 (0.080) −0.005 (0.074) −0.009 (0.082) 0.124 (0.097)
N 981 842 861 773 699
R2 0.201 0.356 0.409 0.358 0.261

Panel (C): Outcome: z-Pro-social score

Boys

Bilingualw−1 −0.126 (0.102) 0.092 (0.122) 0.006 (0.099) −0.001 (0.108) 0.069 (0.098)
N 1012 840 832 731 662
R2 0.076 0.136 0.184 0.187 0.256

Girls

Bilingualw−1 −0.021 (0.102) −0.093 (0.101) 0.076 (0.078) 0.184* (0.103) 0.099 (0.083)
N 981 842 861 773 699
R2 0.067 0.153 0.256 0.192 0.217

Heterogeneous effects of bilingualism, by mother's level of education

Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): Outcome: z-Verbal reasoning skills

Mother's education – “High”

Bilingualw−1 −0.430*** (0.152) −0.205 (0.132) −0.132 (0.126) −0.061 (0.147) −0.270 (0.223)
N 339 310 286 267 241
R2 0.365 0.318 0.248 0.194 0.248

Mother's education – A-level and below

Bilingualw−1 −0.328*** (0.067) −0.200*** (0.071) 0.279*** (0.078) −0.018 (0.079) 0.019 (0.063)
N 1654 1372 1407 1237 1120
R2 0.376 0.414 0.217 0.22 0.118

Panel (B): Outcome: z-SDQ score

Mother's education – “High”

Bilingualw−1 −0.025 (0.144) −0.080 (0.116) 0.083 (0.101) 0.100 (0.126) 0.023 (0.188)
N 339 310 286 267 241
R2 0.199 0.455 0.45 0.459 0.248

Mother's education – A-level and below

Bilingualw−1 0.128* (0.076) −0.105 (0.071) −0.056 (0.063) −0.135** (0.068) 0.065 (0.075)
N 1654 1372 1407 1237 1120
R2 0.161 0.343 0.404 0.377 0.276

Panel (C): Outcome: z-Pro-social score

Mother's education – “High”

Bilingualw−1 0.404** (0.187) 0.016 (0.146) −0.022 (0.127) −0.059 (0.148) −0.216 (0.191)
N 339 310 286 267 241
R2 0.121 0.27 0.424 0.382 0.389

Mother's education – A-level and below

Bilingualw−1 −0.177** (0.078) −0.006 (0.092) 0.044 (0.074) 0.084 (0.086) 0.110 (0.067)
N 1654 1372 1407 1237 1120
R2 0.069 0.143 0.227 0.171 0.221

The effects of bilingualism on language, emotional, and pro-social development, excluding native-born parents – by child's age

Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): Outcome: z-Verbal reasoning skills

Bilingualw−1 −0.320*** (0.065) −0.203*** (0.070) 0.237*** (0.071) −0.012 (0.074) −0.087 (0.063)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw−1 0.441*** (0.030) 0.317*** (0.029) 0.290*** (0.037) 0.192*** (0.030)
z-SDQ scorew−1 −0.053** (0.025) −0.143*** (0.028) 0.007 (0.034) −0.064** (0.031)
N 1386 1148 1191 1058 986
R2 0.375 0.422 0.225 0.272 0.139

Panel (B): Outcome: z-SDQ score

Bilingualw−1 0.117 (0.074) −0.103 (0.069) −0.052 (0.058) −0.028 (0.064) 0.008 (0.073)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw−1 −0.049* (0.030) −0.042 (0.026) −0.119*** (0.029) −0.014 (0.038)
z-SDQ scorew−1 0.491*** (0.032) 0.506*** (0.027) 0.481*** (0.029) 0.458*** (0.037)
N 1386 1148 1191 1058 986
R2 0.174 0.349 0.395 0.353 0.250

Panel (C): Outcome: z-Pro-social score

Bilingualw−1 −0.121 (0.077) −0.017 (0.089) 0.074 (0.066) 0.043 (0.081) 0.046 (0.064)
z-Pro-social scorew−1 0.275*** (0.031) 0.365*** (0.032) 0.270*** (0.041) 0.354*** (0.036)
N 1386 1148 1191 1058 986
R2 0.059 0.133 0.192 0.171 0.234

Bilingual mother's behavior, well-being, and home inputs, by child's age

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Time spent with child Frequency of reading Good relationship with partner Depressive symptoms Life Mother
Age 9 months

Bilingual motherw−1 0.082** (0.032) −0.069*** (0.025) 0.231* (0.133) −0.041 (0.032)
N 3035 3035 3035 3035

Age 3

Bilingual motherw−1 0.074*** (0.028) 0.174*** (0.067) 0.093** (0.041) −0.112*** (0.030) 0.329** (0.151) −0.051 (0.034)
N 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993

Age 5

Bilingual motherw−1 0.097*** (0.035) 0.039 (0.069) 0.085** (0.039) −0.053*** (0.019) 0.501*** (0.163) −0.061* (0.034)
N 1682 1682 1682 1682 1682 1682

Age 7

Bilingual motherw−1 0.074** (0.032) 0.318*** (0.115) −0.001 (0.015) 0.265* (0.138) −0.053 (0.034)
N 1693 1693 1693 1693 1693

Age 11

Bilingual motherw−1 0.024 (0.044) 0.029 (0.021) 0.267* (0.152) −0.168*** (0.029)
N 1504 1504 1504 1504

Age 14

Bilingual motherw−1 −0.021 (0.031) 0.359* (0.186) −0.191*** (0.031)
N 1361 1361 1361

The effects of bilingualism on emotional development; the selected coefficient is child's age

z-SDQ score

(I) 2–6 Age 3 Age 5 Age 7 Age 11 Age 14
Panel (A): OLS with basic controls

Bilingualw−1 0.219*** (0.058) 0.055 (0.057) 0.091 (0.056) 0.049 (0.065) 0.081 (0.072)
R2 0.086 0.067 0.055 0.023 0.022

Panel (B): OLS basic + full controls

Bilingualw−1 0.109 (0.069) −0.049 (0.073) −0.031 (0.066) −0.056 (0.072) −0.038 (0.078)
R2 0.165 0.126 0.118 0.083 0.084

Panel (C): OLS basic + full controls + past endowments

Bilingualw−1 0.105 (0.068) −0.106* (0.061) −0.043 (0.054) −0.095 (0.060) 0.006 (0.071)
z-Verbal reasoning skillsw −1 −0.033 (0.023) −0.047** (0.022) −0.110*** (0.024) −0.016 (0.032)
z-SDQ scorew−1 0.493*** (0.025) 0.561*** (0.023) 0.520*** (0.025) 0.494*** (0.031)
R2 0.175 0.354 0.420 0.386 0.276
N 1993 1682 1693 1504 1361