Expressive Language in Infancy: The Roles of Temperament and Maternal Parenting Behavior

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

Considerable evidence has demonstrated that social interactions play a significant role in early language acquisition (Kuhl, 2007). This association may be quantified in part by parenting characteristics, as maternal behavior that is prompt, appropriate, and contingent promotes linguistic development (Goldstein & Schwade, 2008; Leigh, Nievar, & Nathans, 2011). Individual differences in children’s reactivity and self-regulation (i.e., temperament) also contribute to language development (Laake & Bridgett, 2018). However, little work has investigated the influence of both maternal and temperamental factors in infancy, despite the importance of prelinguistic development for subsequent language (e.g., Newman et al., 2010). Although the modality by which children produce language differs between the first and second years, previous work illustrates that communicative gestures precede and predict early expressive language (Iverson & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the individual contributions of maternal parenting (i.e., responsiveness, intrusiveness), as well as infant temperament, to lexical and syntactical outcomes at 10- and 24-months.
Data from two cohorts of a larger longitudinal study examining early emotion and cognition were analyzed for the current study. Participants included 316 mothers and infants (n = 158 males) with language data at 10- and 24-months. The cohort not included here did not have infant language measures. Sixty-five percent of mothers were college graduates or received advanced degrees. Mothers completed questionnaires about their infant’s temperament (Infant Behavior Questionnaire-revised at 10mos, Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire at 24mos), and their infant’s language development (MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories [MB-CDI Words & Gestures at 10mos, MB-CDI Words & Sentences at 24mos]). Maternal parenting was coded during a 2-minute mother-child peek-a-boo interaction in 30-second epochs. Dependent variables included (1) communicative gestures at 10mos, (2) expressive vocabulary at 24mos, (3) mean length utterance at 24mos, and (4) sentence complexity at 24mos. To analyze the respective contributions of child factors and maternal factors to expressive language, independent variables were entered in blocks for a linear regression for each of the four dependent variables.
For all regression analyses, no significant moderations were detected, thus only main effects are presented. After accounting for child sex, significant predictors of expressive language at 10mos included only infant factors (Surgency, Negative Affectivity), whereas significant predictors at 24mos included a combination of infant and maternal factors (Surgency, Effortful Control, Maternal Intrusiveness, Maternal Education). See Table 1 for the model predictors and effect sizes for each regression model.
As noted, Negative Affectivity and Surgency were the only predictors of expressive language at 10-months, suggesting infants low in emotion dysregulation yet high in positive emotional expression may gesticulate more. At 24-months, infant temperament continued to be a predictor of expressive language, including Effortful Control which emerges by 12-months and develops rapidly in the second year. Maternal intrusiveness negatively contributed to language only at 24-months, suggesting maternal intrusion may be interrupting crucial cognitive-linguistic opportunities for toddlers during this ripe developmental period. These findings suggest maternal characteristics and biologically-based child factors differentially influence expressive language outcomes at 10- and 24-months.

Authors

• Madeleine Diane Bruce, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Tyler C. McFayden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Thomas Ollendick, Virginia Tech
  Non-Presenting Author

• Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Non-Presenting Author