Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2023 Dec;76(12):2732-2748. doi: 10.1177/17470218231158069. Epub 2023 Mar 22.
We report a preregistered analysis to test whether children meeting diagnostic criteria for language disorder (LD) have higher self-reported and/or parent-reported mental health symptoms during the transition from primary to secondary education. Data are from a UK-based longitudinal cohort study, The Surrey Communication and Language in Education Study (SCALES). SCALES oversampled children at risk of LD at school entry. Language was measured using a battery of standardised assessments in Year 1 (age 5-6 years, = 529), and mental health symptoms were measured using self and parent report in Year 6 (age 10-11 years, = 384) and Year 8 (age 12-13 years, = 246). Social experiences were also measured using self-report measures in Year 6. Mental health symptoms were stable during the transition from primary to secondary school. Symptom rates did not differ between children with and without LD based on self-report, but children with LD had higher parent-reported mental health symptoms than their peers with typical language. Similarly, early language was negatively associated with parent-reported but not self-reported mental health symptoms. Early language was associated with fewer child-reported positive social experiences in Year 6, but social experiences did not mediate the association between language and mental health. We found poor agreement between parent and self-reported child mental health symptoms across language groups. Future studies should aim to determine sources of disagreement between parent and child report, particularly for children with communication difficulties who may struggle to accurately self-report mental health symptoms.
我们报告了一项预先注册的分析，以测试在从小学到中学过渡期间，符合语言障碍 (LD) 诊断标准的儿童是否有更高的自我报告和/或父母报告的心理健康症状。数据来自英国的一项纵向队列研究，即萨里教育沟通和语言研究 (SCALES)。SCALES 在入学时对有 LD 风险的儿童进行了抽样。语言使用一系列标准化评估在第 1 年（年龄 5-6 岁，n=529）进行测量，心理健康症状在第 6 年（年龄 10-11 岁，n=384）和第 8 年（年龄 12-13 岁，n=246）通过自我报告和父母报告进行测量。第 6 年还使用自我报告测量了社交经历。从小学到中学的过渡期间，心理健康症状保持稳定。根据自我报告，LD 儿童和无 LD 儿童的症状发生率没有差异，但 LD 儿童的父母报告心理健康症状高于语言正常的同龄人。同样，早期语言与父母报告但与自我报告的心理健康症状呈负相关。早期语言与第 6 年儿童报告的积极社交经历较少有关，但社交经历并未介导语言和心理健康之间的关联。我们发现，在语言组之间，父母和自我报告的儿童心理健康症状之间的一致性较差。未来的研究应旨在确定父母和儿童报告之间不一致的原因，特别是对于那些可能难以准确自我报告心理健康症状的有沟通困难的儿童。
