van Barreveld Mélanie, Scheper Annette, Vissers Constance, Duinmeijer Iris, Hakvoort Britt
Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Research Department, Royal Kentalis, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2025 May-Jun;60(3):e70039. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.70039.
It is well-established that children and adolescents with developmental language disorder (DLD) have social-emotional difficulties. This is reflected in their behaviour, for instance, by (social) withdrawal, hyperactivity or difficulty with peer relations. Children with DLD are also known to have poorer quality of life (QoL). This is likely to be related to social-emotional difficulties, for both concern similar developmental domains but from a different point of view. Findings on the social-emotional abilities, QoL and predictors thereof in children with DLD are inconsistent across studies.
This review investigates how social-emotional functioning (SEF) and QoL develop from childhood into early adulthood in children with DLD. These developments are then compared and predictors are identified.
METHODS & PROCEDURES: A systematic review of 128 articles, conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines in January 2024, yielded 34 articles for inclusion after qualitative assessment. Clinical populations were labelled differently (e.g., DLD, specific language impairment (SLI), language impairment (LI)) but adhered to inclusion criteria for language disorder (LD). The majority of the articles focused on SEF (n = 30 articles), while the remaining examined QoL (n = 4 articles).
This is the first review to simultaneously investigate SEF and QoL in children with LD. No single developmental pattern was found for SEF: a range of possible developmental trajectories exists. Interestingly, prosocial skills generally appear to improve over time, whereas children also experience increasing problems with peer relations. Few studies employed a longitudinal design regarding QoL, but those that did suggest that children with LD are likely to have poorer and declining QoL, at least between the ages of 4 and 9. The sole study examining SEF and QoL in the same sample found a predictive relationship between early SEF and later QoL. Linguistic abilities were predictive in less than half of the studies on SEF development and had little impact on QoL development. Findings on other predictors were inconsistent.
Despite their interrelatedness, SEF and QoL do not necessarily develop similarly in children with LD. Only one study examined SEF and QoL in the same children and found contrasting developmental trends. This could imply that SEF and QoL are not as intertwined as presumed. It also remains unclear what best predicts change over time in these two dimensions. More research is necessary to further examine the relationship between SEF and QoL, as well as to identify potential predictors.
What is already known on the subject Children with LD are more likely than their peers without LD to have lower SEF and poorer QoL. However, the development of these domains across childhood and adolescence remains unclear. The relationship between SEF and QoL is equally under-researched. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge This is the first review on those with LD that takes a longitudinal perspective on both SEF and QoL and looks at their relationship. It highlights that longitudinal research is valuable and necessary, specifically for QoL, where studies are scarce. Only one study examined SEF and QoL in the same group of children and found a predictive relationship between (aspects of) SEF and later QoL. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? This study highlights the relevance of longitudinal research when aiming to comprehend development, particularly in heterogeneous populations such as language disorders (LD). Clinicians are advised to address social-emotional problems alongside language to potentially increase SEF and QoL. Future research should investigate SEF and QoL simultaneously to substantiate the preliminary evidence for this relationship between SEF and QoL. Additionally, future studies consider support and multilingualism as potential predictors of this development in children with LD.
发育性语言障碍（DLD）儿童和青少年存在社会情感方面的困难，这已得到充分证实。这在他们的行为中有所体现，例如（社交）退缩、多动或同伴关系困难。已知患有DLD的儿童生活质量（QoL）也较差。这可能与社会情感方面的困难有关，因为两者都涉及相似的发育领域，但角度不同。关于DLD儿童的社会情感能力、生活质量及其预测因素的研究结果在不同研究中并不一致。
本综述调查了DLD儿童从童年到成年早期社会情感功能（SEF）和生活质量的发展情况。然后对这些发展情况进行比较并确定预测因素。
2024年1月按照系统评价和Meta分析的首选报告项目指南对128篇文章进行系统综述，经定性评估后纳入34篇文章。临床人群的标签不同（如DLD、特定语言障碍（SLI）、语言障碍（LI）），但均符合语言障碍（LD）的纳入标准。大多数文章关注SEF（n = 30篇），其余文章研究生活质量（n = 4篇）。
这是首次同时调查LD儿童SEF和生活质量的综述。未发现SEF单一的发展模式：存在一系列可能的发展轨迹。有趣的是，亲社会技能通常似乎会随着时间推移而提高，而儿童在同伴关系方面也会遇到越来越多的问题。很少有研究采用关于生活质量的纵向设计，但那些研究表明，至少在4至9岁之间，LD儿童的生活质量可能较差且呈下降趋势。唯一一项在同一样本中研究SEF和生活质量的研究发现早期SEF与后期生活质量之间存在预测关系。在不到一半的关于SEF发展的研究中，语言能力具有预测性，且对生活质量发展影响不大。关于其他预测因素的研究结果并不一致。
尽管SEF和生活质量相互关联，但在LD儿童中它们的发展不一定相似。只有一项研究在同一批儿童中研究了SEF和生活质量，发现了相反的发展趋势。这可能意味着SEF和生活质量并不像人们认为的那样紧密相连。目前也不清楚在这两个维度上，什么最能预测随时间的变化。需要更多研究来进一步探讨SEF和生活质量之间的关系，并确定潜在的预测因素。
关于该主题已知的信息 LD儿童比没有LD的同龄人更有可能具有较低的SEF和较差的生活质量。然而，这些领域在童年和青少年时期的发展情况仍不清楚。SEF和生活质量之间的关系同样研究不足。本文对现有知识的补充 这是首次对LD患者进行的综述，从纵向角度研究SEF和生活质量及其关系。它强调纵向研究是有价值且必要的，特别是对于生活质量方面，相关研究较少。只有一项研究在同一组儿童中研究了SEF和生活质量，发现SEF（的某些方面）与后期生活质量之间存在预测关系。这项工作的潜在或实际临床意义是什么？本研究强调了纵向研究在理解发展过程中的相关性，特别是在语言障碍（LD）等异质人群中。建议临床医生在解决语言问题的同时处理社会情感问题，以潜在地提高SEF和生活质量。未来的研究应同时调查SEF和生活质量，以证实SEF和生活质量之间关系的初步证据。此外，未来的研究应考虑支持和多语言能力作为LD儿童这一发展过程的潜在预测因素。
