The impact of intentional bilingualism on children's language, cognition, and socio-emotional development: A systematic review protocol

Parenting in a non-native language (or raising children in intentional bilingualism) is a different phenomenon from parenting in a naturally bilingual environment. It is currently unclear whether intentional bilingualism affects children's language, cognitive and socio-emotional development in the same way as natural bilingualism. This systematic review will follow established reporting guidelines, including PRISMA and NIRO. Relevant records will be retrieved from selected databases using pre-defined search queries. Two independent reviewers will conduct title and abstract screening, followed by full-text screening. During data extraction, we will collect detailed information on study characteristics as well as data to assess risk of bias and methodological quality. Disagreements will be resolved by discussion or consultation with a third reviewer. To our knowledge, this topic has not been systematically reviewed. We expect the existing literature to be limited in scope and of relatively low methodological quality. The systematic review was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO), on 25.04.2025, registration number: CRD420250651386