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

	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

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table 2

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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.345^*** (0.061)	−0.199^*** (0.062)	0.219^*** (0.067)	−0.022 (0.068)	−0.085 (0.062)
z-Verbal reasoning skills_w−1		0.403^*** (0.024)	0.294^*** (0.025)	0.255^*** (0.030)	0.202^*** (0.026)
z-SDQ score_w−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

Notes: Standard errors, clustered at the family level, are in parentheses. All regressions are weighted to account for the non-response rate. Each panel corresponds to a separate specification, where the bilingual effect with basic controls (child's age in months, gender and ethnicity, and mother's age) is reported in Panel (A); Panel (B) additionally includes child's birth weight, mother's age and marital status, mother's and father's highest qualification obtained when the child is nine months old, a young migrant indicator, mother and father coming from non-English speaking background, biological mother present in the household, child's number of siblings, frequency of reading to the child or library visits, poverty indicator, regional controls along with time-varying characteristics measured at period w − 1, such as a poverty indicator, child's number of siblings, mother's marital status, and presence of biological mother; however, it omits lagged endowment effects; Panel (C) in addition to the full set of controls includes lagged input measures for language and emotional development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table 3

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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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 score_w−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

Notes: Standard errors, clustered at the family level, are in parentheses. All regressions are weighted to account for the non-response rate. Each panel corresponds to a separate specification where the bilingual effect with basic controls (child's age in months, gender and ethnicity, and mother's age) is reported in Panel (A); Panel (B) additionally includes child's birth weight, mother's age and marital status, mother's and father's highest qualification obtained when the child is nine months old, a young migrant indicator, mother and father coming from non-English speaking background, biological mother present in the household, child's number of siblings, frequency of reading to the child or library visits, poverty indicator, regional controls along with time-varying characteristics measured at period w −1, such as a poverty indicator, child's number of siblings, mother's marital status, and presence of biological mother; however, it omits lagged endowment effects; Panel (C) in addition to the full set of controls includes lagged input measures for language and emotional development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table 4

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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.088 (0.071)	−0.002 (0.078)	0.039 (0.063)	0.071 (0.075)	0.004 (0.066)
z-Pro-social score_w−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

Notes: Standard errors, clustered at the family level, are in parentheses. All regressions are weighted to account for the non-response rate. Each panel corresponds to a separate specification where the bilingual effect with basic controls (child's age in months, gender and ethnicity, and mother's age) is reported in Panel (A); Panel (B) additionally includes child's birth weight, mother's age and marital status, mother's and father's highest qualification obtained when the child is nine months old, a young migrant indicator, mother and father coming from non-English speaking background, biological mother present in the household, child's number of siblings, frequency of reading to the child or library visits, poverty indicator, regional controls along with time-varying characteristics measured at period w −1, such as a poverty indicator, child's number of siblings, mother's marital status, and presence of biological mother; however, it omits lagged endowment effects; Panel (C) in addition to the full set of controls includes lagged input measures for pro-social development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table 5

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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.102^*** (0.036)	−0.032 (0.031)	0.040 (0.106)
z-Verbal reasoning skills_w−1		0.278^*** (0.014)	0.602^*** (0.218)
z-SDQ score_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.006 (0.037)	−0.049^* (0.027)	−0.018 (0.048)
z-Verbal reasoning skills_w−1		−0.066^*** (0.011)	−0.069 (0.093)
z-SDQ score_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.001 (0.025)	0.014 (0.021)	−0.028 (0.033)
z-Pro-social score_w−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

Notes: Robust standard errors, which are clustered at the family-level, are placed in parentheses. Columns (1) and (2) report OLS estimates of Eq. (1) without and with past language and emotional endowments, respectively. Column (3) reports the system GMM estimator which assumes that effects have constant correlation with the inputs. All estimates include the full set of controls and time dummies. Verbal reasoning skills refer to language development and the SDQ score refers to emotional development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table 6

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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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

Notes: Standard errors, which are clustered at the family level, are in parentheses. The specifications include the same controls as in Panel (C) in Tables 2–4. Verbal reasoning skills refer to language development and the SDQ score refers to emotional development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table 7

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”
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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”
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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”
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−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

Notes: Standard errors, which are clustered at the family-level, are placed in parentheses. The specifications include the same controls as in Panel (C) in Tables 2–4. Verbal Reasoning skills refer to language development and the SDQ score refers to emotional development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table 8

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 mother_w−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 mother_w−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 mother_w−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 mother_w−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 mother_w−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 mother_w−1				−0.021 (0.031)	0.359^* (0.186)	−0.191^*** (0.031)
N				1361	1361	1361

Notes: Robust standard errors, which are clustered at the family level, are placed in parentheses. All regressions are weighted to account for the non-response rate. Samples have been restricted to children in relation to whom complete information is available on language, emotional, and pro-social behavior. All specifications control for series of mother cohort dummies, ethnicity, marital status, highest grade completed at child's birth, the question of whether mother comes from non-English speaking background, gender of child, number of siblings, poverty indicator, and regional controls.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table A1

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

Table A2

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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.320^*** (0.065)	−0.203^*** (0.070)	0.237^*** (0.071)	−0.012 (0.074)	−0.087 (0.063)
z-Verbal reasoning skills_w−1		0.441^*** (0.030)	0.317^*** (0.029)	0.290^*** (0.037)	0.192^*** (0.030)
z-SDQ score_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	0.117 (0.074)	−0.103 (0.069)	−0.052 (0.058)	−0.028 (0.064)	0.008 (0.073)
z-Verbal reasoning skills_w−1		−0.049^* (0.030)	−0.042 (0.026)	−0.119^*** (0.029)	−0.014 (0.038)
z-SDQ score_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.121 (0.077)	−0.017 (0.089)	0.074 (0.066)	0.043 (0.081)	0.046 (0.064)
z-Pro-social score_w−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

Notes: Standard errors, which are clustered at the family level, are placed in parentheses. All regressions are weighted to account for the non-response rate. The results correspond to our full specification, which includes child's age in months, gender, ethnicity and birth weight, mother's age and marital status, mother's and father's highest qualification measured at child's age 9 months, a young migrant indicator, mother and father coming from non-English speaking background, biological mother present in the household, number of siblings, frequency of reading to the child or library visits, poverty indicator, regional controls along with time-varying characteristics measured at period a-1, such as poverty indicator, number of siblings, marital status, presence of biological mother, and lagged input measures for language and emotional development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table A3

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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.368^*** (0.065)	−0.172^*** (0.066)	0.215^*** (0.073)	−0.040 (0.072)	−0.048 (0.066)
z-Verbal reasoning skills_w−1		0.393^*** (0.025)	0.298^*** (0.027)	0.256^*** (0.031)	0.210^*** (0.027)
z-SDQ score_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	0.109 (0.072)	−0.100 (0.063)	−0.031 (0.056)	−0.117^* (0.064)	0.029 (0.075)
z-Verbal reasoning skills_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.051 (0.076)	−0.014 (0.079)	−0.004 (0.068)	0.070 (0.077)	0.112 (0.068)
z-Pro-social score_w−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

Notes: Standard errors, which are clustered at the family level, are placed in parentheses. All regressions are weighted to account for the non-response rate. The results correspond to our full specification, which includes child's age in months, gender, ethnicity and birth weight, mother's age and marital status, mother's and father's highest qualification measured at child's age 9 months, a young migrant indicator, mother and father coming from non-English speaking background, biological mother present in the household, number of siblings, frequency of reading to the child or library visits, poverty indicator, regional controls along with time-varying characteristics measured at period w-1, such as poverty indicator, number of siblings, marital status, presence of biological mother, and lagged input measures for language and emotional development.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table A4

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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.293^*** (0.102)	−0.305^*** (0.071)	0.164^* (0.092)	−0.089 (0.063)	0.033 (0.071)
Kernel matching
Bilingual_w−1	−0.361^** (0.142)	−0.503^** (0.215)	0.005 (0.093)	−0.060 (0.125)	0.045 (0.079)
Inverse probability weighting
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	0.183^** (0.093)	−0.012 (0.095)	0.024 (0.082)	0.026 (0.091)	0.018 (0.087)
Kernel matching
Bilingual_w−1	0.106 (0.128)	0.021 (0.152)	0.084 (0.119)	−0.220^* (0.125)	0.042 (0.084)
Inverse probability weighting
Bilingual_w−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
Bilingual_w−1	−0.228^** (0.091)	−0.010 (0.063)	0.065 (0.067)	−0.034 (0.096)	−0.041 (0.070)
Kernel matching
Bilingual_w−1	−0.294^** (0.119)	−0.002 (0.214)	0.023 (0.090)	−0.122 (0.142)	−0.073 (0.092)
Inverse probability weighting
Bilingual_w−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

Notes: Bootstrapped standard errors are placed in parentheses.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table A5

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

[i] Notes: δ is the estimate of delta parameter developed in Oster (2019), which indicates how much selection on unobserved variables would be required to drive the “bilingual” estimate to zero, when measurement is made as a proportion to the selection on observed variables.

Table A6

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)

Notes: Parentheses contain t-statistics. Brackets contain standard deviations.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

Table A7

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

Notes: Parentheses contain t-statistics. Brackets contain standard deviations.

*** Significant at the 1% level.

** Significant at the 5% level.

* Significant at the 10% level.

References

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/izajole-2021-0001 | Journal eISSN: 2193-8997

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Language: English

Accepted on: Nov 23, 2020

Published on: Jan 29, 2021

Published by: Sciendo

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

cognitive and non-cognitive skills,

production function,

value-added model,

cohort studies

JEL:

I20,

J24,

D10

Related subjects:

Business and economics,

Mathematics and statistics for economists,

Econometrics

© 2021 Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, Colm Harmon, Anita Staneva, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 10 (2021): Issue 1 (January 2021)

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

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