Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Dev Sci. 2021 Sep;24(5):e13082. doi: 10.1111/desc.13082. Epub 2021 Apr 12.
The quality of the early environment influences the development of psychopathology. Children who are deprived of sufficient environmental enrichment in infancy may be at higher risk for developing symptoms of psychopathology in toddlerhood. In this study, we investigated the prospective association between naturalistic measures of adult language input obtained through passive monitoring of infants' daily environments and emerging psychopathology in toddlerhood. In a sample of 100 mothers and their infants recruited from the community (mean age [range] = 6.73 [5-9] months), we used the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) system to measure multiple dimensions of infants' language environments, including both the quantity and consistency of adult speech and conversational turns in infants' daily lives as well as the quantity of infant vocalizations. Subsequently, during toddlerhood (mean age [range] = 18.29 [17-21] months), mothers reported on their children's symptoms of psychopathology. Infants who experienced more consistent adult speech and conversational turns had lower symptoms of psychopathology in toddlerhood, independent of negative emotionality in infancy, maternal depressive symptoms, and laboratory-based measures of maternal sensitivity. These findings have implications for the measurement of environmental factors that may confer risk and resilience to emerging psychopathology.
早期环境的质量会影响精神病理学的发展。在婴儿期缺乏足够环境丰富度的儿童，在幼儿期出现精神病理学症状的风险可能更高。在这项研究中，我们调查了通过被动监测婴儿日常环境获得的成人语言输入的自然主义测量值与幼儿期出现的新兴精神病理学之间的前瞻性关联。在从社区招募的 100 名母亲及其婴儿的样本中（平均年龄[范围]为 6.73[5-9]个月），我们使用语言环境分析（LENA）系统来测量婴儿语言环境的多个维度，包括日常生活中成人言语和对话次数的数量和一致性，以及婴儿发声的数量。随后，在幼儿期（平均年龄[范围]为 18.29[17-21]个月），母亲报告了他们孩子的精神病理学症状。与婴儿期的负性情绪、母亲的抑郁症状以及基于实验室的母亲敏感性测量值无关，经历更多一致的成人言语和对话次数的婴儿在幼儿期的精神病理学症状较少。这些发现对测量可能导致新兴精神病理学风险和恢复力的环境因素具有启示意义。
