Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Emma Thornton, Danielle Matthews, Praveetha Patalay, Colin Bannard
Formato: Artículo Open Access
Publicado: Wiley 2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.70117
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1867014312131821568
author Emma Thornton
Danielle Matthews
Praveetha Patalay
Colin Bannard
author_facet Emma Thornton
Danielle Matthews
Praveetha Patalay
Colin Bannard
Emma Thornton
Danielle Matthews
Praveetha Patalay
Colin Bannard
collection Wiley Open Access
contents Unequal educational outcomes for children with similar early childhood vocabulary but different socioeconomic circumstances Emma Thornton Danielle Matthews Praveetha Patalay Colin Bannard Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Background In a purely meritocratic society, educational outcomes would reflect ability and only ability. Vocabulary size is a common measure of cognitive ability that predicts educational outcomes but is confounded with socioeconomic circumstances (SEC). Methods In preregistered analyses of the nationally representative UK Millennium Cohort Study data ( N  = 15,576), we used a series of multiple linear and logistic regression analyses to investigate the predictive value of age‐5 vocabulary for age‐16 educational outcomes and assess whether socioeconomic circumstance moderated this relation. Results We show that age‐5 vocabulary strongly predicted age‐16 educational attainment, even after adjusting for both SEC and caregiver vocabulary (OR = 1.62, 95% CIs = [1.52; 1.72]; β  = .22, 95% CIs = [0.19; 0.24]). SEC also predicts educational attainment (OR = 2.05, 95% CIs = [1.92; 2.19]), and modifies the association between vocabulary and educational attainment, whereby a larger vocabulary was most advantageous for those in middle SEC groups (interaction term OR = 1.09 [1.03; 1.15]). Conclusions Early child vocabulary is a strong predictor of children's educational outcomes – even when controlling for proxy measures of the home environment and genetics. Nonetheless, children who enter school with strong vocabulary skills but disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances still have only about a 50/50 chance of gaining gateway qualifications at age 16. 10.1111/jcpp.70117 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
doi_str_mv 10.1111/jcpp.70117
format Artículo Open Access
id wiley_oa_10_1111_jcpp_70117
institution Wiley Open Access
license_str_mv http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
publishDate 2026
publisher Wiley
record_format wiley_oa
spellingShingle Unequal educational outcomes for children with similar early childhood vocabulary but different socioeconomic circumstances
Emma Thornton
Danielle Matthews
Praveetha Patalay
Colin Bannard
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Unequal educational outcomes for children with similar early childhood vocabulary but different socioeconomic circumstances Emma Thornton Danielle Matthews Praveetha Patalay Colin Bannard Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Background In a purely meritocratic society, educational outcomes would reflect ability and only ability. Vocabulary size is a common measure of cognitive ability that predicts educational outcomes but is confounded with socioeconomic circumstances (SEC). Methods In preregistered analyses of the nationally representative UK Millennium Cohort Study data ( N  = 15,576), we used a series of multiple linear and logistic regression analyses to investigate the predictive value of age‐5 vocabulary for age‐16 educational outcomes and assess whether socioeconomic circumstance moderated this relation. Results We show that age‐5 vocabulary strongly predicted age‐16 educational attainment, even after adjusting for both SEC and caregiver vocabulary (OR = 1.62, 95% CIs = [1.52; 1.72]; β  = .22, 95% CIs = [0.19; 0.24]). SEC also predicts educational attainment (OR = 2.05, 95% CIs = [1.92; 2.19]), and modifies the association between vocabulary and educational attainment, whereby a larger vocabulary was most advantageous for those in middle SEC groups (interaction term OR = 1.09 [1.03; 1.15]). Conclusions Early child vocabulary is a strong predictor of children's educational outcomes – even when controlling for proxy measures of the home environment and genetics. Nonetheless, children who enter school with strong vocabulary skills but disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances still have only about a 50/50 chance of gaining gateway qualifications at age 16. 10.1111/jcpp.70117 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
title Unequal educational outcomes for children with similar early childhood vocabulary but different socioeconomic circumstances
topic Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
url https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.70117