Using an Adoption Design to Examine Genetic, Prenatal, and Temperament Influences on Language and Executive Functions

• In Event: 3-025 - Breaking the cycle: The role of intergenerational studies in child development

Integrative Statement

Introduction. Deficits in executive functioning (EF) are important in the development of both academic and behavioral problems. Thus, it is important to distinguish its role from closely related capacities such as language and emotional reactivity as well as its genetic, prenatal, and postnatal origins. Our prospective adoption design provides a unique window into the interplay of these processes. We hypothesized language and EF would demonstrate stability over time, and both adoptive and birth parent language and inhibitory control would be significant predictors of child language and EF at ages 27 months and 7 years.
Methods. The sample included families participating in the Early Growth and Development Study, which is a prospective study of children adopted at birth (n = 561 children). Negative emotionality was measured at child ages 9 months, 18 months, 27 months, and 7 years using behavioral questionnaires completed by the child’s adoptive parent. Child EF was measured at child ages 27 months and 7 years, and included measures of inhibitory control (stroop task and go-no-go) and delay of gratification (gift delay and snack delay). Language development was also measured at child age 27 months (parent report of language) and age 7 (Woodcock-Johnson word identification task). Additional predictors included birth and adoptive mother inhibitory control measured using the Stroop Color and Word Test, birth and adoptive mother vocabulary measured using the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale – vocabulary subscale and the Woodcock-Johnson word identification task, and a set of covariates (child sex, prenatal risk, and adoption openness).
Results. Latent growth modelling indicated that quadratic growth in negative emotionality from 9 months to 7 years was related to lower language development and EFs at 7 years. In regards to heritable influences at 27 months, birth mother vocabulary skills were positively associated with child inhibitory control and child language development. At 7 years, birth mother vocabulary was associated with child language development. A greater prenatal risk was associated with poorer language development at 27 months but not 7 years. For environmental influences, adoptive mother vocabulary was only associated with child inhibitory control at 7 years. Neither adoptive mother inhibitory control nor birth mother inhibitory control were associated with any child outcomes. Finally, for child factors, female sex predicted child outcomes at 27 months but only inhibitory control at 7 years. EFs at 27 months did not predict EFs at 7 years; child language showed a trend in the positive direction.
Discussion. Findings suggest that heritable aspects of maternal language development play a significant role in the development of child EF and child language, and that growth in negative emotionality over time are related to poorer language development and lower executive functions. Based on the relation between school-aged inhibitory control and adoptive mother language skills, it is also clear that the development of inhibitory control is susceptible to environmental influences, and might be impacted by positive family contexts in early childhood.

Authors

• Camille C. Cioffi, University of Oregon
  Presenting Author

• Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Griffin, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Misaki N Natsuaki, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jody Ganiban, George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Reiss, Yale Child Study Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jenae Neiderhiser, The Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author