early language difficulties and later behavioral adjustment in...

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LANGUAGEANDCHILDADJUSTMENT

Theacquisitionoflanguageisafundamentalaspectofearlychilddevelopment.However,asizablepor-tionoftoddlersexperiencelagsinlanguagedevel-opmentduringthefirstyearsoflife(Horwitzetal.,2003;Rescorla,Hadicke-Wiley,&Escarce,1993),andformanyofthesechildren,earlylowlanguage(LL)developsintolaterlanguage,readingandacademicproblemsduringtheschool-ageperiod(Rescorla,2002;Scarborough,1990;Snowling,Adams,Bishop,&Stothard,2001).Inadditiontolearningdifficulties,LLhasalsobeenlinkedtohighratesofsocialandbehavioraldifficulties(Beitchman,Brownlie,Inglis,Wild,&etal.,1996a;Beitchman,Wilson,Brownlie,Walters,&etal.,1996b).Despitethisratherexten-sivebodyofresearchdemonstratingthefrequentco-occurrenceofLLandbehaviorproblems,littleresearchhasexploredthefactorscontributingtotheirassociation.Thecurrentstudysoughttoadvanceourunderstandingoftherelationshipbetweenearlylan-guageriskandchildproblembehaviorintwoways.

Early Language Difficulties and Later Behavioral Adjustment

in Low-Income, High-Risk ChildrenEMIly MoyE SkUbAN, DANIEl S. ShAW, ThoMAS J. DIShIoN,

ERIkA S. lUNkENhEIMER, FRANCES GARDNER, MElVIN WIlSoN

AbstrAct

background: Children with language difficulties have been shown to have higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems, but less research has explored potential moderating factors on this relation-ship. Method: The sample included 731 high-risk, low income children who participated in a multisite intervention study. Families with toddlers were recruited for participation at age 2 and also seen at ages 3 and 4. Results: ll children at age 2 were seen by their caregivers as having higher rates of withdrawn behavior and emotional reactivity at the age 4 assessment. Neither positive nor negative observed par-enting was found to moderate the association between ll difficulties and later behavioral adjustment. Person-centered analyses comparing children who showed a remittance of language problems from ages 2 to 4 years versus persistent language difficulties showed higher rates of withdrawal, aggression, emotional reactivity and attention problems as well as poorer parenting. Conclusions: Findings suggest that while early ll may be associated with later behavioral problems, toddlers with persistent ll are par-ticularly at risk for later behavioral difficulties, toddlers with persistent ll are particularly at risk for later behavioral difficulties. behavioral difficulties, toddlers with persistent ll are particularly at risk for later behavioral difficulties. keywords: language delay, behavior problems, high-risk populations

Usingasampleoftoddlersathighriskfortheemer-genceoflanguageandbehavioralproblems,wefirstexaminedtheassociationbetweenLLandbehavioraldifficultiesatage4.Second,weexaminedthepossibleattenuatinginfluenceofmaternalparenting,specifi-callysensitive,responsiveandharsh,rejectingpar-enting,intheassociationbetweenlanguageriskandproblembehaviorsatage4.

LLhavebeenlinkedtoaspectsofchildmalad-justment,includingbehavioralproblemsandsocialdelays.Thisassociationisnoteworthybecauseofthecontinuitybetweenearlyproblembehaviorandmoreseriousformsofpsychopathologyinmiddlechild-hoodandadolescence.Forexample,externalizingsymptomscharacterizedbyhyperactivity,impulsivity,andaggressioninearlychildhoodareoftenpredictiveofmoreseriousformsofantisocialbehaviorduringmiddlechildhoodandadolescence(Aguilar,Sroufe,Egeland,&Carlson,2000;Barkley,1998;Moffitt,Caspi,Harrington,&Milne,2002).Althoughfewer

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SKUBAN,SHAW,DISHION,LUNKENHEIMER,GARDNER,WILSON

longitudinalstudieshavebeencarriedoutonearly-startinginternalizingsymptoms(Bosquet&Egeland,2006;Feng,Shaw,&Silk,inpress),suchdisordersaschildhood-onsetdepressionhavebeenassociatedwithamorechroniccoursesofpsychopathologycom-paredtolater-onsetdepression(Kovacs&Devlin,1998).AsizableportionofchildrendiagnosedwithsomeLLhavebehavioralproblems,includingcon-ductproblems,socialwithdrawalandADHD(Baker&Cantwell,1987;Beitchmanetal.,1996a;Carson,Klee,Perry,Muskina,&Donaghy,1998).Whileasso-ciationsbetweenLLandemotionalandbehavioralproblemshavebeenidentifiedinthetoddlerperiod(Carsonetal.,1998;Irwin,Carter,&Briggs-Gowan,2002),LLinpreschool-agedchildrenhavebeenfoundtobeassociatedwithcontinuingbehavioraldifficul-tiesintolaterdevelopmentalperiods,includingado-lescenceandadulthood(Aram,Ekelman,&Nation,1984;Beitchmanetal.,2001),suggestingthatthereisalastingrelationshipbetweenlanguageabilityandbehavioralfunctioningthroughoutdevelopmentandacrossdevelopmentalperiods.

Thus the extant literature on the associationbetweenLLandbehavioraladjustmenthasanum-berofgaps.First,themajorityofresearchontheco-occurrencebetweenlanguagedifficultiesandproblembehaviorexaminedsamplesofchildrenwhoareeitherolderpreschool-agedorschool-aged(Beitchmanetal.,1996b;Redmond&Rice,1998)orvarygreatlyinage(Arametal.,1984;Baker&Cantwell,1987),withthevastmajorityofthesestudieslimitedtocross-section-aldesigns.Similarly,whileexistingstudiesoftoddlerswithlanguagedifficultieshaveindicatedavarietyofbehavioraldifficulties(Carsonetal.,1998;Horwitzetal.,2003;Irwinetal.,2002),theyhavereliedonconcurrentreportsofchildadjustment.Theabsenceofstudiesthatarelongitudinalindesignmakesitchallengingtoestablishtherelationshipbetweentoddler-agedlanguageproblemsandlaterbehavioraladjustment.

Language Delayed or Language Deviant?Onereasonfortheheightenedfocusonchildrenwhoareoverthreeyearsofagehasbeenthatmany“late-talking”toddlershavelanguageproblemswhichremitintoddlerhoodversuspersistintomiddlechildhood(Paul,1996;Whitehurst&Fischel,1994).Twolongi-tudinalstudiesoflate-talkingtoddlersreportedthatasubstantialportionofthechildrenshowedsignificantimprovementsintheirlanguageabilitiesduringthepreschoolperiodandsomeregards“caughtup”tothechildreninthecontrolgroup(Paul,1993;Rescorla,Roberts,&Dahlsgaard,1997).Despitetheseimprove-ments,manyofthesechildrencontinuedtodisplaysomelanguageweaknessescomparedtotheirpeers

(Paul,Murray,Clancy,&Andrews,1997;Rescorla,2002).Littleworkhasfocusedondifferentiatingthe“languagedelayed” toddlers fromthe“languageimpaired”toddlers.Additionally,nolongitudinalworkhasexploreddifferencesinratesofbehavioralandemotionaldisturbancesinchildrenwhocatchupcomparedtochildrenwhocontinuetoevidencedefi-cits.Itseemslikelythatchildrenwithtransitorydelaysshoulddisplayfewerbehaviorproblemsthanchildrenwithmorelastinglanguagedeficits.Studiesthatiden-tifyandcompared“remitters”and“persisters”mightprovidenewinformationaboutemotionalandbehav-ioralrisksforthesetwogroupsofchildren.

Parenting as a Moderator between LL and Problem behavior Little isknownof thenatureof therelationshipbetweenLLandbehavioraladjustment.ItispossiblethatLLduringtoddlerhoodmayincreaseachild’sriskforlaterbehavioraldifficultiesbecauseofthechallengesthesechildrenhavecommunicatingwithothers(Redmond&Rice,1998).Childrenwhohavetroubleexpressingtheirneedsmaybemorelikelytousesuboptimalmethodstocommunicatesuchasaggressionorconversely,socialwithdrawal(Rourke,1988;Tomblin,Zhang,Buckwalter,&Catts,2000).Further,proximalfactorsinthechild’senvironmentmaymoderatethisassociation,suchthatonlyincer-taincontextswillchildrenwithLLultimatelydem-onstratebehavioraland/oremotionaldifficulties.Inearlychildhoodwhenchildrenspendrelativelymoretimewithparents,itislogicaltoexpectthatcare-givingqualitymayservetomoderateassociationsbetweenLLandlaterbehavior.

Motherswhousemoreverbalstimulationandrich-ervocabulariesaremorelikelytohavechildrenwhodeveloplanguagemorequickly(NICHD,2000;Pan,Rowe,Singer,&Snow,2005).Additionally,maternalresponsivityandsensitivityhavebeenfoundtocon-tributetotheacquisitionoflanguage(Landry,Smith,Miller-Loncar,&Swank,1997)andtheabsenceoflan-guageproblems(Hammer,Tomblin,Zhang,&Weiss,2001).Itispossiblethatmotherswhoaremoresensi-tivearebetterabletoscaffoldandprovideadequatestructuretotheirchildren’senvironment,whichmaycontributetothedevelopmentoflanguage.Alterna-tively,motherswhoarerejectingandnegativemaymakeitmoredifficultforchildrenwithLLtodevelopthenecessarycompensatoryskillstoimprovetheirlateradjustment.Theassociationbetweenwarmandsensitiveparentingandthedevelopmentofemotionalandbehavioralproblemsisalsowell-established,withmaternalwarmthbeingassociatedwithadecreasedlikelihoodforlaterbehavioraldifficulties(Aguilaretal.,2000;Erickson,Sroufe,&Egeland,1985),andthe



useofhighratesofcontroland/orhostilityassoci-atedwithexternalizingandinternalizingproblems(Campbell,Pierce,Moore,&Marakovitz,1996;Gil-liom&Shaw,2004).Giventhecurrentpatternofasso-ciations,itseemsreasonabletohypothesizethatlowlevelsofnegativeparentingandhighlevelsofpositiveparentingmayattenuatetheassociationbetweenlan-guageandbehavioraldifficulties.

studies of Language Problems and child Adjustment in Low-income PopulationsPovertyappearstobeacommonsharedriskfactorforbothlanguageproblemsandemotionalandbehavioralproblems.Childrenlivinginpovertyaremorelikelytodemonstratehigherrateslanguagedelayinyoungchildren,asmuchashalfofthechildrenreportedinonesample(Kingetal.,2005)andtheserateswereparticularlyhighinboyswithbehavioraldisturbanc-es(Kaiser,Cai,Hancock,&Foster,2002).However,withtheexceptionofthefewstudiescitedabove,themajorityofstudiesonlanguage-impairedchildrenhasbeenfocusedonchildrenfrommiddle-classcontextsandsamplesofchildrenwithlanguageimpairmentsbutlesspervasivetypesofemotionalandbehavioralproblems(e.g.,Rescorlaetal.,1997).Whiletherearemethodologicaladvantagestorestrictingsamplesoflanguage-impairedchildrenwithfewerco-occurringtypesofproblembehavior,sampleswithgreatervari-abilityinlanguagefunctioningandproblembehaviorprovideanopportunitytoexaminetherelationshipbetweenearlylanguagedeficitsandemergingemo-tionalandbehavioralproblems.

Thus,thegoalsofthepresentstudywerethree-fold:1)toexplorelongitudinalassociationsbetweenearlylanguageproblemsandlaterchildadjustment,2)toexplorethemoderatingroleofbothpositiveandnegativedimensionsofparentingbetweenlanguageproblemsandlaterchildadjustment,and3)tocom-paredifferencesinchildoutcomesandage-3parent-ingpracticesamongchildrenwhoseearlylanguageproblemsremitversuspersist.Thestudywascarriedoutusinganethnicallydiversesampleof731low-incomechildrenwhowereselectedbasedonthepres-enceofriskfactorstoparticipateinapreventionstudyintheUnitedStates.Languageability,intheformoflowexpressivevocabularyatage2,wasexaminedinrelationtolaterassessmentsoflanguageskillsandmultiplereportsofchildren’sfunctioningatage4.Itwashypothesizedthatchildrenwhohadlowlevelsofexpressivevocabularyatage2wouldbeatincreasedriskofemotionalandbehavioralproblemstwoyearslater.Further,itwashypothesizedthatpositiveandnegativedimensionsofparentingwouldmoderatetheseassociations.Finally,itwashypothesizedthatdifferencesinparentingandchildadjustmentbetween

childrenwhohadaremittanceoflanguageproblemsbyage4andchildrenwithpersistentlanguagedif-ficultieswouldbeobserved.

Methods

ParticipantsParticipantsincluded731mother–childdyadsrecruit-edbetween2002and2003fromWICprogramsinthemetropolitanareasofPittsburgh,Pennsylvania,Eugene,Oregon,andCharlottesville,Virginia.Foracompletedescriptionofrecruitmentandcharacteris-ticsofthissample,seeDishionandcolleagues(2007).FamilieswerecontactedatWICsitesandinvitedtoparticipateiftheyhadachildaged24to35months,followingascreentoensurethattheymetcriteriabyriskfactorsforfuturebehaviorproblems.Riskcriteriaforrecruitmentweredefinedatoraboveonestandarddeviationabovenormativeaveragesonseveralscreen-ingmeasuresinthefollowingthreedomains:(a)childbehavior(conductproblems,high-conflictrelation-shipswithadults),(b)familyproblems(maternaldepression,substanceuse,teenparenthood),and(c)socio-demographicrisk(loweducationachievement,lowincome).Twoormoreofthethreeriskfactorswererequiredforinclusioninthesample.

Recruitment.Ofthe1666familieswhohadchildrenintheappropriateagerangeandwhowerecontactedatWICsites,879mettheeligibilityrequirements,and731(83.2%)agreedtoparticipate.Thechildreninthesamplehadameanageof29.9months(SD=3.2)atthetimeoftheage2assessment.

Primarycaregiversself-identifiedasbelongingtothefollowingethnicgroups:28%AfricanAmerican,50.0%EuropeanAmerican,13.0%biracial,and9%othergroups.ThirteenpercentofthesamplereportedbeingHispanicAmerican.Over66%ofthefamiliesenrolledintheprojecthadanannualincomeoflessthan$20,000.Forty-onepercentofthepopulationhadahighschooldiplomaorGED,andanadditional32%hadonetotwoyearsofpost–highschooltraining.

Retention.Ofthe731familieswhoinitiallypar-ticipated,659(90%)wereavailableattheone-yearfollow-upand619(85%)participatedatthetwo-yearfollow-up.Atages3and4,selectiveattritionanaly-sesrevealednosignificantdifferencesinprojectsite,children’srace,ethnicity,orgender,levelsofmaternaldepression,orchildren’sexternalizingbehaviors(par-entreports).

MeasuresMacArthur Language Development Inventory (Fen-

son et al., 1994).TheMacArthurLanguageDevelop-mentInventory(MCDI)isawidelyusedparent-reportchecklistofchildren’svocabulary.Inthisstudy,par-



entscompletedthismeasureattheage-2assessment,usingtheversionoftheMCDIdesignedforchildrenbetweentheagesof24and30monthsofage.Whileaportionofthechildreninthissamplewereolderthan30monthsatthetimetheMCDIwascompleted,thisversionwasusedfortheentiresamplebecauseweexpectedasignificantportionofthesehighrisk,lowincomechildrentoshowbelow-averageperformance.ChildrenwhoscoredinthelowesttenthpercentileoftheMCDIwereconsideredtohave“LowLanguage”(LL).Thetenthpercentilehasbeenusedinthelitera-turepreviouslyasacut-point(Heilmann,Weismer,Evans,&Hollar,2005;Horwitzetal.,2003)

Fluharty-2 Preschool Speech and Language Screen-ing Test (Fluharty, 2001).TheFluhartyisabriefassess-mentoflanguage,whichwasdesignedtobeadminis-teredtochildrenaged3to7years,whomaybeatriskforspeechandlanguageproblems.Itconsistsoffivesubtestsandthreestandardizedcompositescores.Itwasadministeredbytrainedexaminersduringtheage3and4assessments.Inthisreport,children’sscoresontheGeneralLanguageQuotient,whichassessesbothreceptiveandexpressivelanguageabilities,atage4,wereused.

Early childhood problem behavior.TheChildBehav-iorChecklistforAges1.5–5(CBCL;Achenbach&Rescorla,2000)isa99-itemquestionnairethatassess-esbehavioralproblemsinyoungchildren.MothersandalternativecaregiverscompletedtheCBCLattheallthreeassessments.Primaryandalternatecaregiv-erreportsatage4onfournarrowbandfactorswereselectedincluding:EmotionalReactivity,WithdrawnBehavior,AttentionProblems,andAggressiveBehav-iortorepresentsymptomsofbehaviorsreportedinchildrenwithlanguagedifficulties.

Observed negative and positive parenting.ForfullerdetailsofthecodingsystemandassessmentofthePositiveParentingandNegativeParentingcodes,seeDishionandcolleagues(2007)andMoilanenandcolleagues(2007),respectively.Fouritemswerestandardizedandsummedtodevisethepositiveparentingscores:parentalinvolvement,positivesup-portbehavior,engagedparent-childinteraction,andproactiveparenting.Theseitemswereobtainedfromtheexaminer’sratingontheHomeObservationforMeasurementoftheEnvironmentinventory(Brad-ley,Corwyn,McAdoo,&Garcia-Coll,2001),andthevideotapedcodingofcaregiversusingtheRPCcodingsystem(Dishion,Gardner,Patterson,Reid,&Thibodeaux,1983).ComparableitemsfromtheRPCcodingsystem(Dishionetal.,1998)werealsostandardizedandsummedfornegativeparenting,includingnegativesupportbehaviors,verbalnega-tivity,physicalnegativityanddevelopmentally-inap-propriateparentalbehavior.

Design and ProcedurePrimarycaregivers(PC)and,ifavailable,alternativecaregivers(AC),completeda2.5-hourhomevisit.Eachassessmentbeganbyintroducingthetargetchildtoanassortmentofage-appropriatetoysandhavingthechildplaywhilethePCcompletedquestionnaires.Next,eachPCandchildparticipatedinaclean-uptask,followedbyadelayofgratificationtask,fourteachingtasks,withthelasttaskbeingcompletedbyACandchild,asecondfreeplayandclean-upwiththealternatecaregiver,thepresentationoftwoinhibi-tion-inducingtoys,andamealpreparationandlunchtask.Thisprotocolwasrepeatedatages3and4.Fol-lowingtheage2assessment,familieswererandomlyassignedtointerventionornot.Examinerscomplet-ingfollow-upassessmentswerenotinformedofthefamily’sassignedcondition.Foradetaileddescriptionoftheintervention,seeDishionetal.(2007).Forthepurposesofthecurrentstudy,treatmentgroupstatuswasusedasacovariateinallanalyses.

resultsDescriptivestatisticsforthesampleareshowninTable1.Ofthe731childrenwhoparticipatedattheinitialhomeassessmentatagetwo,252(34.5%),scoredbelowthe10thpercentileontheMCDI.AscanbeseeninTable1,thechildrenwhosePCreportedclinicallysig-nificantlanguageproblemsontheMCDIperformedsignificantlyworseontheFluherty-2atage4com-paredtochildreninthesamplewhowerenotchar-acterizedbyLL.Inaddition,intermsofgroupdiffer-encesonobservednegativeandpositiveparenting,ANOVAsrevealednogroupdifferenceswithrespecttonegativeparenting,butparentsofLLchildrenwerefoundtoshowlowerratesofpositiveparentingthanotherchildren.



Age 4 behavioral outcomes for LL children.Toexam-ineourfirstaim,whetherchildrenwithlanguageriskwouldshowhigherlevelsofbehavioralandemotionalproblemsatage4,aseriesofANOVAswereperformedinwhichage-4childmeasuresofproblembehaviorservedasdependentvariablesandLLwastheinde-pendentvariable.AscanbeseeninTable1,primarycaregiversreportedhigherlevelsofwithdrawalandattentionproblemsinLLchildrencomparedtotheotherchildreninthesample.AlternatecaregiversalsoreportedsignificantlyhigherlevelsofwithdrawalinLLchildrencomparedtotherestofthesample.

Positive and Negative Parenting as Moderators in the Associations between LL and behavioral Outcomes: Variable-centered AnalysesTotestthehypothesesthatPPmightattenuateassoci-

ationsbetweenLLandlaterchildadjustmentandNPmightamplifyassociationsbetweenLLandlaterchildadjustmentusingavariable-orientedanalysis,aseriesofhierarchicallinearregressionswereperformedwithtreatmentgroupstatusandLLstatusenteredfirst,fol-lowedbyPPorNPandfinallytheinteractionbetweenLLstatusandPPorNPwithprimaryandalternatecaregiverreportsofbehavioraloutcomesontheCBCL.TheresultsoftheseregressionsarepresentedinTables2and3.

First,fortheregressionsinvolvingPP,althoughPPcontinuedtoaccountforsignificantvariancesinrela-tiontoprimarycaregiverreportsofallCBCLfactorsexceptforEmotionalReactivity,nointeractionswerefoundinvolvingPPandLLwithrespecttoanyCBCLfactorsusingprimarycaregiverreports.Asimilarpatternemergedusingalternativecaregiverreportsforage-4CBCLfactors,withnosignificantinterac-tionsemergingbetweenLLstatusandPP,althoughPPaccountedforindependentvarianceinrelationtoCBCLAggressionandLLaccountedforindependentvariancewithrespecttoCBCLEmotionalReactivityandWithdrawal.

ForregressionsexaminingNPasamoderator,asimilarpatternemergedforbothprimaryandalterna-tivecaregiverreportsofCBCLfactors;nosignificantinteractionswerefoundbetweenNPandLLforanyCBCLfactor(Table3).SimilartotheresultsforPP,NPcontributeduniquevariancetothepredictionofseveralCBCLfactorsforprimarycaregiverswiththeexceptionofWithdrawal.Usingprimarycaregiverreports,LLstatusalsoaccountedforsignificantvari-anceinrelationtoCBCLWithdrawalandtreatmentstatuswasrelatedtoprimarycaregiverreportsofCBCLAggression.Foralternativecaregiverreports,LLwasrelatedtoEmotionalReactivityandWith-drawnbehaviorafteraccountingforcovariates.

Parenting Practices and behavioral Outcomes for Persistent versus remittent LL children Tosupplementthevariable-centeredanalysesexam-iningassociationsbetweenearlyLLandpreschooladjustmentandparentingmoderators,weconductedanadditionalseriesofanalysesusingaperson-cen-teredapproach.Fortheseanalyses,childrenwithpersistentLLatages2and4wereconsideredtobepersistersandthosewithimpairedLLatage2butatleastaveragelevelsoflanguageskillsatage4wereconsideredremitters.Wethencomparedthesetwogroupsonage4childoutcomesandpositiveandneg-ativeparentingassessedatage2.Ofthe252childrenwhowereidentifiedasscoringatorbelowthe10thpercentileontheMCDIatage2,34(13.4%)achievedastandardscoreof70orloweronFLUatage4,indi-catingthepresenceofsevereandpersistinglanguage



difficulties,and58LLchildren(23.0%)achievedastandardscoreof90orhigherontheFLUatage4,suggestingtheimprovementoftheirlanguageprob-lems.AsseeninTable4,itwasfoundthatpersistershadsignificantlyhigherprimarycaregiverratingsontheCBCLfactorsofAttentionProblems,Aggres-siveBehavior,andWithdrawnBehavior,withatrendtowardshigherlevelsofEmotionalReactivity.Therewerenosignificantdifferencesbetweenthegroupsonalternatecaregiverratingsofbehavioraladjustment.

Inaddition,withrespecttoage2indicesofobservedparenting,itwasfoundthat“persisters”hadprimarycaregiverswhoengagedinmarginallyhigherratesofNPandsignificantlylowerratesofPPcomparedtothechildrenwhoshowedremittance.

DiscussionThecurrentstudyexaminedassociationsbetweenearlyexpressivelanguageabilitiesandseveralindi-cesofpreschoolchildren’sbehavioraladjustment,aswellasthepotentialmoderatingroleofbothpositiveandnegativeparentingontheseassociations.Somebutnotallhypothesesweresupported.Accordingtoprimarycaregiverreportsofage4children’sadjust-ment,directassociationswerefoundbetweenearlyLLandwithdrawalandattentionproblems,findingsthatwerecorroboratedforwithdrawalusingalternativecaregiverreports.Contrarytoourexpectations,therewasnoindicationthatnegativeandpositivedimen-sionsofparentingmoderatedtherelationshipbetweenLLatage2andage4children’sadjustment.Howev-er,whenchildrenwithpersistentLLwerecomparedwithchildrenwhoshowedlanguageimprovementfromages2to4,significantdifferencesinratingsofbehavioraladjustmentandobservedparentingwereobserved,withprimarycaregiversofpersistentLLchildrenreportinghigherratesofwithdrawal,emo-tionalreactivityandaggressivebehaviorscomparedtoparentsofremitters.Inadditionandinlinewithourexpectations,childrenwithpersistentlanguageproblemswereobservedashavingmarginallylowerpositiveparentingandsignificantlyhighernegativeparentingthanparentsofremitters.

Direct Associations between LL and child behavior: specificity of EffectsMaineffectsofLLonchildadjustmentwerelimitedtodisturbancesinsocialbehaviorandemotionalreac-tivityratherthandisruptivebehavior,withgroupdif-ferencesinvolvingwithdrawalandemotionalreac-tivityratherthanattentionproblemsandaggression.Theseresultsconfirm,withamuchlargersample,otherfindingintheliteraturebyIrwinandcolleagues(2002).Theycomparedagroupof14late-talkingtod-dlerstodemographicallymatchedpeersonconcur-rentmeasuresofsocialandemotionalfunctioning,findingthatlate-talkingtoddlershadhigherlevelsofemotionalnegativityandsocialwithdrawalcomparedtotypicallymatchedpeers.

Fromatheoreticalperspective,theresultsarealsoconsistentwithmodelsofLLthatsuggestlinkswiththesedifficultiesmaybeduetoLLchildren’sinabilitytocommunicatewithothers.Childrenwithlanguageproblemsmaystrugglewithengagingwithothers,leadingthemtosocialwithdraw.Similarly,children



withlanguageproblemsmayhavefewerstrategiesformanagingnegativeemotionsleadingtoheightenedlevelsofemotionalreactivity.Otherresearchhasfoundassociationsbetweenlanguagedifficultiesandaggressionandattentionalproblems(Dionne,Trem-blay,Boivin,Laplante,&Perusse,2003;Redmond&Rice,1998),whichwasnotfoundexceptwhendiffer-enceswereexaminedbetweenpersistersandremit-ters.ItispossiblethatamongtoddlerswithLLthesebehavioraldifferencesarenotasapparentastheyareinolderpreschoolandschool-agedchildren.

the Moderating role of Positive and Negative ParentingThehypothesisthatbothnegativeandpositivepar-entingwouldmoderatetherelationshipbetweenLLandlaterchildadjustmentwasnotsupported,atleastwhenincludingtheentiresample.AlthoughthereweremaineffectsforPP,NPandlanguageabil-ityonlaterchildoutcomes,therewerenosignificantinteractionsbetweenparentingandlanguageabilityinrelationtopreschooladjustment,suggestingthatneitherPPorNPisamoderatingmechanismfortherelationshipbetweenlanguageabilityandchildadjustment.Alternatively,itispossiblethatonlyincertaincontextsdoesparentingmatterintherelation-shipbetweenlanguageandchildoutcome.Thediffer-encesobservedbetweentheLLchildrenwhoshowedpersistenceandremittanceatage4werestrongerthanthoseobservedbetweenLLchildrenandnon-LLchil-drenatage2.Thus,itispossiblethattheeffectsofparentingandlaterchildadjustmentmattermoreforextremegroupsofchildrenwhohavecontinuinglan-guagedifficultiesratherthanthosewhoonlymanifestatransientdelayinexpressiveabilities.Differencesinparentingbehaviors,particularlyforcritical,harshcaregivingpracticesthanpositivebehaviors,were

observedbetweenchildrenwithpersistentversustransientlanguagelags.Thisfindingisconsistentwiththepremisethatharsh,rejectingparentingmayamplifytrajectoriesofriskamongchildrenalreadydemonstratingpoorexpressivelanguageabilities.However,ratherthanleadingtocoercivepatternsofparent-childinteractionandsubsequentelevatedratesofconductproblems(Shaw&Bell,1993),thecurrentresultssuggestthatsuchcaregivingpracticesareasso-ciatedwithchildwithdrawalandatleastaccordingtoparentreports,higherratesofattentionproblems.AschildrenwithpersistentLLwerelimitedtoarelativelysmallsubsetoffamilies(13%ofthesampleor34chil-dren),itisstronglyrecommendedthattheseresultsbereplicatedwithsamplesofslightlyolderchildrenwithchroniclanguagedifficulties.

strengths and LimitationsStrengthsofthisstudyincludeaverylarge,com-munitybased sample,buton theotherhand, itincludesonlychildrenfromhigh-risk,low-incomebackgroundsandthereforemaynotbegeneralizabletomorerepresentativesamplesofchildrenorthoseincludingpredominantlymiddle-classpopulations.Additionally,thisstudyreliedonparent-reportofchildren’sexpressivelanguageabilityatage2asameasureofLLstatus.WhilethechildrencategorizedasLLwithinthissampledonotmeetanydiagnosticcriteriaasbeinglanguagedelayedorimpaired,theMCDIhasbeenshowntobereliablyrelatedtoothermethodsofassessinglanguage(Fensonetal.,1994)andwasfoundtobemoderatelycorrelatedwithage3and4Fluhartyscoresinthecurrentsample(rs=.48atage3and.53atage4,p<.0001).

conclusionsLow-incomechildrenwhoaredescribedashavinglowexpressivelanguageabilitiesatage2appeartobeatincreasedriskforproblemswithsocialwith-drawalandattentionduringthepreschoolperiodandshowdifferencesininitialcaregivingpracticesatage2.Althoughneitherpositiveornegativeparent-ingappeartomoderateassociationsbetweenearlyLLandpreschool-ageadjustment,thosechildrenwithapersistentpatterndohavemotherswhoshowslightlylowerlevelsofwarmandresponsiveparentingandsignificantlyhigherlevelsofharsh,rejectingparentingcomparedtothoseLLtoddlerswhoshowremittanceinlanguagedifficulties.ReplicationofthesefindingsisencouragedamonglargersamplesofchildrenwithearlyLL;however,thecurrentresultssuggestoppor-tunitiesformoderatingthecourseofpersistentpat-ternsofLLbymodifyingparentalbehaviorduringthetoddlerperiod.



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