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Ahl RE, Amir D, McAuliffe K. Recalling experiences of scarcity reduces children's generosity relative to recalling abundance. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 243:105914. [PMID: 38581759 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2024] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
Does a sense of having less or more than what one needs affect one's generosity? The question of how resource access influences prosocial behavior has received much attention in studies with adults but has produced conflicting findings. To better understand this relationship, we tested whether resource access affects generosity in the developing mind. In our preregistered investigation, we used a narrative recall method to explore how temporary, experimentally evoked states of resource abundance or scarcity affect children's sharing. In this study, 6- to 8-year-old American children (N = 148) recalled an experience of scarcity or abundance and then chose how many prizes to share with another child. We found that children in the scarce condition rated themselves as sadder, viewed their resource access as more limited, and shared fewer tokens than children in the abundant condition. Our results indicate that recalling past experiences of resource access creates distinct behavioral consequences for children and suggest that a sense of "having less" may encourage a strategy of resource conservation relative to a sense of "having more," even at a young age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard E Ahl
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
| | - Dorsa Amir
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Katherine McAuliffe
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
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2
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Foushee R, Srinivasan M. Infants who are rarely spoken to nevertheless understand many words. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2311425121. [PMID: 38814865 PMCID: PMC11161804 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2311425121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Theories of language development-informed largely by studies of Western, middleclass infants-have highlighted the language that caregivers direct to children as a key driver of language learning. However, some have argued that language development unfolds similarly across environmental contexts, including those in which childdirected language is scarce. This raises the possibility that children are able to learn from other sources of language in their environments, particularly the language directed to others in their environment. We explore this hypothesis with infants in an indigenous Tseltal-speaking community in Southern Mexico who are rarely spoken to, yet have the opportunity to overhear a great deal of other-directed language by virtue of being carried on their mothers' backs. Adapting a previously established gaze-tracking method for detecting early word knowledge to our field setting, we find that Tseltal infants exhibit implicit knowledge of common nouns (Exp. 1), analogous to their US peers who are frequently spoken to. Moreover, they exhibit comprehension of Tseltal honorific terms that are exclusively used to greet adults in the community (Exp. 2), representing language that could only have been learned through overhearing. In so doing, Tseltal infants demonstrate an ability to discriminate words with similar meanings and perceptually similar referents at an earlier age than has been shown among Western children. Together, these results suggest that for some infants, learning from overhearing may be an important path toward developing language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruthe Foushee
- Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, New York, NY10011
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94705
| | - Mahesh Srinivasan
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94705
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3
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Peña M, Vásquez-Venegas C, Cortés P, Pittaluga E, Herrera M, Pino EJ, Escobar RG, Dehaene-Lambertz G, Guevara P. A brief tablet-based intervention benefits linguistic and communicative abilities in toddlers and preschoolers. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2024; 9:38. [PMID: 38816493 PMCID: PMC11139856 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-024-00249-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Young children's linguistic and communicative abilities are foundational for their academic achievement and overall well-being. We present the positive outcomes of a brief tablet-based intervention aimed at teaching toddlers and preschoolers new word-object and letter-sound associations. We conducted two experiments, one involving toddlers ( ~ 24 months old, n = 101) and the other with preschoolers ( ~ 42 months old, n = 152). Using a pre-post equivalent group design, we measured the children's improvements in language and communication skills resulting from the intervention. Our results showed that the intervention benefited toddlers' verbal communication and preschoolers' speech comprehension. Additionally, it encouraged vocalizations in preschoolers and enhanced long-term memory for the associations taught in the study for all participants. In summary, our study demonstrates that the use of a ludic tablet-based intervention for teaching new vocabulary and pre-reading skills can improve young children's linguistic and communicative abilities, which are essential for future development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcela Peña
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
- National Center for Artificial Intelligence CENIA FB210017, Basal ANID, Santiago, Chile.
| | | | - Patricia Cortés
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- National Center for Artificial Intelligence CENIA FB210017, Basal ANID, Santiago, Chile
| | - Enrica Pittaluga
- Neonatology Department, Complejo Asistencial Dr. Sótero del Río, Santiago, Chile
| | - Mitzy Herrera
- Neonatology Department, Complejo Asistencial Dr. Sótero del Río, Santiago, Chile
| | - Esteban J Pino
- National Center for Artificial Intelligence CENIA FB210017, Basal ANID, Santiago, Chile
- Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
| | - Raul G Escobar
- Pediatric Neurology Section, Medical School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CNRS ERL 9003, INSERM U992, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, Gif/Yvette, France
| | - Pamela Guevara
- National Center for Artificial Intelligence CENIA FB210017, Basal ANID, Santiago, Chile
- Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
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4
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Scaff C, Casillas M, Stieglitz J, Cristia A. Characterization of children's verbal input in a forager-farmer population using long-form audio recordings and diverse input definitions. INFANCY 2024; 29:196-215. [PMID: 38014953 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 10/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
There is little systematically collected quantitative empirical data on how much linguistic input children in small-scale societies encounter, with some estimates suggesting low levels of directed speech. We report on an ecologically-valid analysis of speech experienced over the course of a day by young children (N = 24, 6-58 months old, 33% female) in a forager-horticulturalist population of lowland Bolivia. A permissive definition of input (i.e., including overlapping, background, and non-linguistic vocalizations) leads to massive changes in terms of input quantity, including a quadrupling of the estimate for overall input compared to a restrictive definition (only near and clear speech), while who talked to and around a focal child is relatively stable across input definitions. We discuss implications of these results for theoretical and empirical research into language acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camila Scaff
- University of Zurich, Institute of Evolutionary Medicine (IEM), Zurich, Switzerland
- PSL University, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS, DEC), Paris, France
| | - Marisa Casillas
- University of Chicago, Comparative Human Development, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | | | - Alejandrina Cristia
- PSL University, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS, DEC), Paris, France
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5
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Bignardi G, Mareva S, Astle DE. Parental socioeconomic status weakly predicts specific cognitive and academic skills beyond general cognitive ability. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13451. [PMID: 37853931 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
Parental socioeconomic status (SES) is a well-established predictor of children's neurocognitive development. Several theories propose that specific cognitive skills are particularly vulnerable. However, this can be challenging to test, because cognitive assessments are not pure measures of distinct neurocognitive processes, and scores across different tests are often highly correlated. Aside from one previous study by Tucker-Drob, little research has tested if associations between SES and cognition are explained by differences in general cognitive ability rather than specific cognitive skills. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), we tested if parental SES is associated with individual cognitive test scores after controlling for latent general cognitive ability. Data from three large-scale cohorts totalling over 16,360 participants from the UK and USA (ages 6-19) were used. Associations between SES and cognitive test scores are mainly (but not entirely) explained through general cognitive ability. Socioeconomic advantage was associated with particularly strong vocabulary performance, unexplained by general ability. When controlling for general cognitive ability, socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with better executive functions. Better characterizing relationships between cognition and adversity is a crucial first step toward designing interventions to narrow socioeconomic gaps. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Understanding environmental influences on cognitive development is a crucial goal for developmental science-parental socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the strongest predictors. Several theories have proposed that specific cognitive skills, such as language or certain executive functions, are particularly susceptible to socioeconomic adversity. Using structural equation modelling, we tested whether SES predicts specific cognitive and academic tests after controlling for latent general cognitive ability across three large-scale cohorts. SES moderately predicted latent general cognitive ability, but associations with specific cognitive skills were mainly small, with a few exceptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Bignardi
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Silvana Mareva
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Duncan E Astle
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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DER Nederlanden SJ, Schaeffer JC, VAN Bakel HHJA, Dirks E. Socio-economic status and other potential risk factors for language development in the first year of life. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2023:1-21. [PMID: 37791474 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000923000478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
A wide variety of language skills has been shown to be compromised in children from low socioeconomic status (SES). However, few studies have investigated the effect of SES on language development in infants. The aim of this study is two-fold: to investigate when the first SES-effects on language can be observed and to explore the effects of three variables often claimed to be linked to SES - gestational duration, stress and parent-child interaction - on language development. Parents/caregivers of 539 Dutch-acquiring infants aged 8-13 months from mid to high SES backgrounds completed a questionnaire including the LENA Developmental Snapshot (Gilkerson et al., 2017a) and the Brigance Parent-Child Interaction Scale (Glascoe & Brigance, 2002). No association was found between SES and language development. However, the results suggest that corrected age and parent-child interaction positively influence language development at this early age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Evelien Dirks
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
- NSDSK, the Netherlands
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HART ER, TROLLER-RENFREE SV, SPERBER JF, NOBLE KG. Relations among Socioeconomic Status, Perceived Stress, and the Home Language Environment. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2023:1-18. [PMID: 36916133 PMCID: PMC10500036 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000923000156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
While socioeconomic disparities in the home language environment have been well established, the mechanisms explaining these disparities are poorly understood. One plausible mechanism is heightened stress. The current study investigated whether maternal perceived stress was 1) associated with measures of the home language environment, and 2) mediated the relation between socioeconomic disparities and the home language environment. Data from three independent studies were analyzed, which together comprised 322 mother-child dyads. Two studies included mothers and their six- to twelve-month-old infants (N = 227). The third included mothers and their five- to nine-year-old children (N = 95). Mothers reported their educational attainment, income, and stress. Language Environment Analysis (LENA) measured the home language environment. As has been previously reported, socioeconomic disparities were observed in adult words and conversational turns. Stress did not mediate these associations, nor was it associated with adult words or conversational turns. Alternate mechanisms for future exploration are discussed.
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Schleihauf H, Zhang Z, Gomez A, Engelmann JM. From outcome to process: A developmental shift in judgments of good reasoning. Cognition 2023; 236:105425. [PMID: 36907114 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Revised: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023]
Abstract
What does it mean to reason well? One might argue that good reasoning means that the outcome of the reasoning process is correct: reaching the right belief. Alternatively, good reasoning might refer to the reasoning process itself: following the right epistemic procedures. In a preregistered study, we investigated children's (4-9-year-olds) and adults' judgments of reasoning in China and the US (N = 256). Participants of all age groups evaluated the outcome when the process was kept constant - they favored agents who reached correct over incorrect beliefs, and they evaluated the process when the outcome was kept constant - they preferred agents who formed their beliefs using valid over invalid procedures. Developmental changes emerged when we pitted outcome against process: young children weighed outcome more heavily than process; older children and adults showed the reverse preference. This pattern was constant across the two cultural contexts, with the switch from outcome to process happening earlier in development in China. These results suggest that children initially value what someone believes, but, with development, come to increasingly value how beliefs are formed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Schleihauf
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands; Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Zhen Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Alissa Gomez
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Jan M Engelmann
- Social Origins Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
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9
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Cristia A. A systematic review suggests marked differences in the prevalence of infant-directed vocalization across groups of populations. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13265. [PMID: 35429106 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Anthropological reports have long suggested that speaking to young children is very infrequent in certain populations (notably farming ones), which is in line with scattered quantitative studies. A systematic review was undertaken to use available literature in order to estimate the extent of population variation. Database searches, expert lists, and citation searches led to the discovery of 29 reports on the frequency of vocalizations directed to infants aged 24 months or younger, based on systematic observations of spontaneous activity in the infant's natural environment lasting at least 30 min in length. Together, these studies provide evidence on 1314 infants growing up in a range of communities (urban, foraging, farming). For populations located outside of North America, the frequency with which vocalization was directed to urban infants was much higher than that for rural infants (including both foraging and farming, medians = 12.6 vs. 3.6% of observations contained infant-directed vocalization behaviors). We benchmarked this effect against socio-economic status (SES) variation in the United States, which was much smaller. Infants in high SES American homes were spoken to only slightly more frequently than those in low SES homes (medians = 16.4 vs. 15.1% of observations contained infant-directed vocalization behaviors). Although published research represents a biased sample of the world's populations, these results invite further cross-population research to understand the causes and effects of such considerable population group differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandrina Cristia
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique, Département d'Etudes cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, Paris, France
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10
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Romeo RR, Uchida L, Christodoulou JA. Socioeconomic status and reading outcomes: Neurobiological and behavioral correlates. New Dir Child Adolesc Dev 2022; 2022:57-70. [PMID: 35868867 PMCID: PMC9588575 DOI: 10.1002/cad.20475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
In this chapter, we examine reading outcomes and socioeconomic status (SES) using a developmental cognitive and educational neuroscience perspective. Our focus is on reading achievement and intervention outcomes for students from lower SES backgrounds who struggle with reading. Socioeconomic disadvantage is a specific type of vulnerability students experience, which is often narrowly defined based on parental income, education level, and/or occupational prestige. However, implications of socioeconomic status extend broadly to a suite of areas relevant for reading outcomes including a student's access to resources, experiences, language exposure, academic outcomes, and psychological correlates. Underlying this constellation of factors are brain systems supporting the processing of oral and written language as well as stress-related factors. We review the implications of SES and reading achievement, and their intersectionality, for the science and practice of reading instruction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel R. Romeo
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Lili Uchida
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Joanna A. Christodoulou
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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11
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Roby E, Scott RM. Financial concern reduces child directed speech in a socioeconomically diverse sample. Sci Rep 2022; 12:9173. [PMID: 35654989 PMCID: PMC9163051 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13177-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Socioeconomic status predicts the quantity and nature of child-directed speech that parents produce. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. This study investigated whether the cognitive load imposed by resource scarcity suppresses parent talk by examining time-dependent variation in child-directed speech in a socioeconomically diverse sample. We predicted that child-directed speech would be lowest at the end of the month when Americans report the greatest financial strain. 166 parents and their 2.5 to 3-year-old children (80 female) participated in a picture-book activity; the number of utterances, word tokens, and word types used by parents were calculated. All three parent language measures were negatively correlated with the date of the month the activity took place, and this relationship did not vary with parental education. These findings suggest that above and beyond individual properties of parents, contextual factors such as financial concerns exert influence on how parents interact with their children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin Roby
- Department of Pediatrics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 First Ave., New York, NY, 10016, USA.
| | - Rose M Scott
- Psychological Sciences, University of California Merced, 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA, 95343, USA
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12
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Dearing E, Casey B, Davis-Kean PE, Eason S, Gunderson E, Levine SC, Laski EV, Libertus M, Lu L, Lombardi CM, Nelson A, Ramani G, Susperreguy MI. Socioeconomic Variations in the Frequency of Parent Number Talk: A Meta-Analysis. EDUCATION SCIENCES 2022; 12:312. [PMID: 38282965 PMCID: PMC10811961 DOI: 10.3390/educsci12050312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Using data from 12 studies, we meta-analyze correlations between parent number talk during interactions with their young children (mean sample age ranging from 22 to 79 months) and two aspects of family socioeconomics, parent education, and family income. Potential variations in correlation sizes as a function of study characteristics were explored. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between the amount of number talk in parent-child interactions and both parent education and family income (i.e., r = 0.12 for education and 0.14 for income). Exploratory moderator analyses provided some preliminary evidence that child age, as well as the average level of and variability in socioeconomic status, may moderate effect sizes. The implications of these findings are discussed with special attention to interpreting the practical importance of the effect sizes in light of family strengths and debate surrounding "word gaps".
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Dearing
- Applied Developmental Psychology, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | - Beth Casey
- Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | | | - Sarah Eason
- Human Development & Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
| | | | - Susan C. Levine
- Department of Psychology and Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Elida V. Laski
- Applied Developmental Psychology, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | - Melissa Libertus
- Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Linxi Lu
- Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | | | - Ariadne Nelson
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Geetha Ramani
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - María Inés Susperreguy
- Millennium Nucleus for the Study of the Development of Early Math Skills (MEMAT), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile
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13
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Achtziger A. Overspending, Debt, and Poverty. Curr Opin Psychol 2022; 46:101342. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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14
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The Impact of Birth Order on Language Development in Autistic Children from Simplex Families. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 52:3861-3876. [PMID: 34498150 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05274-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The current study investigated the impact of birth order on vocabulary and social language development in 1338 first-born and 1049 s-born autistic youth (M age = 9.03 years, SD = 3.57; 86.4% male) from the Simons Simplex Collection. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses revealed mixed findings in language development. There were no differences in vocabulary or social language between first-born and second-born children. However, birth order and income together predicted expressive vocabulary and inappropriate speech such that birth order had a greater impact on language in lower-income families. This is the first study to investigate the impact of birth order on language outcomes in autistic youth and has implications for early intervention in lower-resourced communities.
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