Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;33(3):787-797. doi: 10.1007/s00787-023-02192-x. Epub 2023 Apr 3.
Research examining the development of behavior, emotions and language, and their intertwining is limited as only few studies had a longitudinal design, mostly with a short follow-up period. Moreover, most studies did not evaluate whether internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms are independently associated with language ability. This study examines bidirectional associations between internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms and language ability in childhood in a large, population-based cohort. Longitudinal data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a cohort of children in the United Kingdom followed from birth to 11 years (n = 10,878; 50.7% boys), were analyzed. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were based on parent reports. Language ability (higher scores reflecting poorer ability) was assessed by trained interviewers at ages 3, 5, 7 and 11 years. Structural Equation Models (SEM) were performed, including random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) and cross-lagged panel models (CLPM). Internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms and language ability were stable over time and co-occur with each other from early life onwards. Over time, externalizing symptoms in early childhood were associated with less growth in language skills and with increases in internalizing symptoms. In late childhood, language ability was negatively associated with later internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The early start, co-occurrence and persistent nature of internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms and (poorer) language ability highlights the importance of comprehensive assessments in young children who present problems in one of these domains. Specifically, among children in the early grades of elementary school, those with language difficulties may benefit from careful monitoring as they are more likely to develop difficulties in behavior and emotions.
研究考察了行为、情绪和语言的发展及其相互交织，但由于只有少数研究具有纵向设计，且随访时间大多较短，因此相关研究非常有限。此外，大多数研究并未评估内化症状和外化症状是否与语言能力独立相关。本研究在一个大型的基于人群的队列中，研究了儿童时期内化症状、外化症状与语言能力之间的双向关联。对英国千禧年队列研究（一项从出生到 11 岁的儿童队列研究，n=10878；男孩占 50.7%）的纵向数据进行了分析。内化和外化症状基于家长报告。语言能力（分数越高表示能力越差）由经过培训的访谈者在儿童 3 岁、5 岁、7 岁和 11 岁时进行评估。进行了结构方程模型（SEM）分析，包括随机截距交叉滞后面板模型（RI-CLPM）和交叉滞后面板模型（CLPM）。内化症状、外化症状和语言能力随时间推移是稳定的，并且从早期开始就相互伴随。随着时间的推移，儿童早期的外化症状与语言技能增长较慢以及内化症状增加有关。在童年后期，语言能力与后来的内化和外化症状呈负相关。内化症状、外化症状和（较差的）语言能力的早期开始、共同发生和持续性质强调了对在这些领域之一中出现问题的幼儿进行全面评估的重要性。特别是在小学低年级的儿童中，那些有语言困难的儿童可能需要仔细监测，因为他们更有可能在行为和情绪方面出现问题。
