Factors Affecting Child Development in Immigrant Families in the United States: Impact of Linguistic Distance, Cognitive Stimulation and Parental Involvement

Protap Mukherjee, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Lopamudra Ray Saraswati, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Using data from Round I of New Immigrant Survey-2003, we examine the level of children’s intellectual, behavioural and social development in immigrant families in the United States by different background variables. We also examine the impact of linguistic distance, cognitive stimulation and parental involvement and make a final model to understand the factors affecting child's overall development in immigrant families in the US. We have made three composite variables for measuring three different developments and have constructed six factors: nativity status, linguistic distance, childhood health, cognitive stimulation, parental involvement and fatherhood. Our analysis points to the linguistic distance, cognitive stimulation and parental involvement that influence child development in immigrant families. This finding indicates the possible effectiveness of targeted interventions in mediating process that affects child overall development in immigrant families that existed at the time of entry into the United States and various classes of admission to legalization.