The relation between family factors and children’s vocabulary knowledge: a comparative study of rural and urban preschoolers in China

Abstract Although family factors are considered important for children’s language acquisition, the evidence comes primarily from affluent societies. Thus, this study aimed to examine the relations between family factors (family’s socioeconomic status [SES], home literacy activities, access to print resources, and parental beliefs) and children’s vocabulary knowledge in both urban and rural settings in China. Data from 366 children (urban group: 109, 4.85 years; rural group: 257, 4.89 years) were collected. Results showed that whereas family’s SES significantly predicted access to print resources and children’s vocabulary knowledge in the rural group, parental beliefs directly predicted children’s vocabulary knowledge in the urban group. Multigroup analysis showed that the associations of family’s SES and access to print resources with children’s vocabulary knowledge were stronger in the rural group than in the urban group. Our findings highlight the importance of considering contextual settings when conceptualising the role of family factors in children’s language acquisition.