Department of Human Communication Sciences, Sheffield, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2015 Jan;56(1):67-75. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12281. Epub 2014 Jul 1.
An association between children's early language development and their emotional and behavioural functioning is reported in the literature. The nature of the association remains unclear and it has not been established if such an association is found in a population-based cohort in addition to clinical populations.
This study examines the reported association between language development and emotional and behavioural functioning in a population-based cohort. Data from 1,314 children in the Children in Focus (CiF) sample from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were analysed. Regression models identified the extent to which early language ability at 2 years of age and later language ability at 4 years of age is associated with emotional and behavioural functioning at 6 years while accounting for biological and social risk and adjusting for age and performance intelligence (PIQ).
A series of univariable and multivariable analyses identified a strong influence of biological risk, social risk and early and later language ability to emotional and behavioural functioning. Interestingly, social risk dropped out of the multivariate analyses when age and PIQ were controlled for. Early expressive vocabulary at 2 years and receptive language at 4 years made a strong contribution to emotional and behavioural functioning at 6 years in addition to biological risk. The final model accounted for 11.6% of the variance in emotional and behavioural functioning at 6 years.
The study identified that early language ability at 2 years, specifically expressive vocabulary and later receptive language at 4 years both made a moderate, but important contribution to emotional and behavioural functioning at 6 years of age. Although children's language development is important in understanding children's emotional and behavioural functioning, the study shows that it is one of many developmental factors involved.
文献中报道了儿童早期语言发展与其情绪和行为功能之间存在关联。这种关联的性质尚不清楚，尚未确定在基于人群的队列中是否除了临床人群外还存在这种关联。
本研究检查了基于人群的队列中语言发展与情绪和行为功能之间的报告关联。分析了来自阿冯纵向研究父母和儿童（ALSPAC）的儿童焦点（CiF）样本中 1314 名儿童的数据。回归模型确定了 2 岁时的早期语言能力和 4 岁时的后期语言能力与 6 岁时的情绪和行为功能之间的关联程度，同时考虑了生物和社会风险，并调整了年龄和表现智力（PIQ）。
一系列单变量和多变量分析确定了生物风险、社会风险以及早期和后期语言能力对情绪和行为功能的强烈影响。有趣的是，当控制年龄和 PIQ 时，社会风险从多变量分析中消失了。2 岁时的早期表达词汇和 4 岁时的接受性语言除了生物风险外，对 6 岁时的情绪和行为功能也有很大贡献。最终模型解释了 6 岁时情绪和行为功能的 11.6%的差异。
该研究确定，2 岁时的早期语言能力，特别是表达词汇和 4 岁时的后期接受性语言，对 6 岁时的情绪和行为功能都有适度但重要的贡献。虽然儿童的语言发展对于理解儿童的情绪和行为功能很重要，但研究表明，它只是涉及的许多发展因素之一。
