A longitudinal perspective on frequency of parent-child activities and social-emotional development

Surprisingly little research has considered whether parent-child activities facilitate social-emotional development and whether these associations differ for boys and girls. To address this gap, this study leveraged the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (2006-2008) to examine the extent to which story reading, storytelling and music activities longitudinally predicted social-emotional development. Parents reported the frequency of parent-child activities when children (N = 2567) were aged 3-6 and their social-emotional functioning two years later. Multi-group analyses indicated significant sex differences after controlling for family income. Story reading was negatively associated with hyperactivity and emotional/anxiety problems whereas storytelling was negatively associated with physical and indirect aggression among boys, but not girls. Storytelling and music activities were associated with lower hyperactivity among girls. More frequent parent-child activities predicted more prosocial behaviours among both boys and girls. This study highlights that each parent-child activity has its own distinctive implications on social-emotional functioning.