LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT AND CHILD ADJUSTMENT IN HIGH-RISK, LOW-INCOME TODDLERS: MODERATING INFLUENCES OF PARENTING AND EMOTION REGULATION

Research has consistently documented the association between language deficits in childhood and later social-emotional adjustment, particularly behaviors associated with ADHD and impaired social competencies (Gallagher, 1999; Hummel & Prizant, 1993; Toppelberg & Shapiro, 2000). Despite extensive body of research demonstrating the co-occurrence of these two phenomena, far less research has explored the factors contributing to their association. Furthermore, there have been few prospective investigations of the development of these problems in young children. Based on the potential salience and relative dearth of longitudinal research on the linkage between language deficits and child adjustment, three primary goals were proposed. First, this study examined the development and stability of early language impairments in children ranging in age from two to four years. Second, it examined the covariation between the development of language impairments and two domains of child adjustment: social withdrawal and attention problems from ages 2 to 5 years. Third, based on research indicating the association of maternal nurturance and children's emotion regulation strategies with language deficits and behavioral outcomes, the potential moderating role of parenting and emotion regulation on their co-occurrence was examined. Participants included a randomly selected subsample of 150 children in the control group of a multi-site intervention study (N = 731) aimed at preventing early-starting conduct problems. Results were mixed. Semi-parametric trajectory analyses identified patterns of language development that were suggestive of children with transient language delays, lasting language deficits and typical language development that the literature has previously described. Follow-up analyses also identified that the trajectory group characterized by more persistent language difficulties had lower scores on academic measures at age 5 compared to children in the typical language group. While modest associations between language measures and child adjustment were found, autoregressive structural equation modeling indicated few bidirectional pathways between language and child outcome. Finally, the moderating variables of emotion regulation and maternal nurturance were found to have direct associations with language and child outcome; however, there was very little evidence of these variables as moderators in the association of language and child outcome. Implications for future lines of research and clinical relevance are discussed