Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Dev Sci. 2020 May;23(3):e12907. doi: 10.1111/desc.12907. Epub 2019 Oct 21.
Language abilities in early childhood show stability over time and play an important role in the development of other cognitive processes. Identifying modifiable environmental risk factors is important to informing prevention and early intervention efforts. Maternal verbal ability has been previously linked to child verbal ability. The current study examined whether maternal and child verbal abilities were linked indirectly through early childhood maternal responsiveness. Data come from a longitudinal birth cohort study. Participants included 133 mothers and their children recruited from maternity wards shortly after birth. Maternal verbal ability was measured using the Vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition (child age 8 months). Child verbal ability was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (36 months). A latent maternal responsiveness variable was estimated using three developmentally sensitive indicators; one during infancy (child age 8 months) and two when children were 36 months. Results of a structural equation model indicated a significant indirect effect from maternal verbal abilities to child verbal abilities through maternal responsiveness. This indirect path was significant even after inclusion of another indirect path from maternal executive functioning to child verbal ability through maternal responsiveness (which was not significant). Future studies will benefit from experimental, genetically sensitive and/or cross-lagged designs to allow for conclusions related to directionality and causality. This body of research has implications for the study of the intergenerational transmission of verbal abilities and associated skills, behaviours and adaptive outcomes.
儿童早期的语言能力具有时间稳定性，并且在其他认知过程的发展中起着重要作用。确定可改变的环境风险因素对于告知预防和早期干预措施很重要。母亲的言语能力先前与儿童的言语能力有关。本研究通过早期儿童期母亲反应性来检验母亲和儿童的言语能力是否通过间接方式相关。数据来自纵向出生队列研究。参与者包括 133 名母亲及其孩子，他们在出生后不久从产房招募。母亲的言语能力使用《韦氏简明智力量表》（第二版）的词汇分测验进行测量（儿童 8 个月大）。儿童的言语能力使用《皮博迪图片词汇测验》（36 个月）进行评估。使用三个发展敏感指标来估计潜在的母亲反应性变量；一个在婴儿期（儿童 8 个月大），两个在儿童 36 个月大时。结构方程模型的结果表明，通过母亲的反应性，母亲的言语能力对儿童的言语能力具有显著的间接影响。即使包括母亲执行功能通过母亲反应性对儿童言语能力的另一个间接路径（该路径不显著），此间接路径仍然显著。未来的研究将受益于实验，遗传敏感和/或交叉滞后设计，以便能够得出与方向和因果关系有关的结论。这一系列研究对言语能力及其相关技能、行为和适应性结果的代际传递的研究具有意义。
