Poster #35 - Does Child Disruptiveness Moderate the Effect of Parent Speech on Child Language Development?

• In Event: Poster Session 19

Abstract

Background: Children learn from the language input they receive in close social interactions (Hoff, 2006; Rowe & Weisleder, 2020). Quantity and quality of caregiver child-directed speech are strong predictors of child language development, with richer language input being linked to more positive child language outcomes (Huttenlocher et al., 2010; Rowe, 2012). An understudied question is whether certain child characteristics mitigate the beneficial effects of parent speech on child language development (Yu et al., 2019). Theories of vantage sensitivity and differential susceptibility suggest that some child characteristics may inhibit the beneficial effects of rich parental input, while children with vulnerable characteristics may benefit more from rich parental input (Belsky, 2015; Pluess & Belsky, 2013). For instance, children with hyperactivity benefit less from book reading than non-hyperactive children, whereas children with above-average conduct problems benefit more from book reading than children without conduct problems (Laursen et al., 2022), although both problematic behaviors have been negatively related to children’s language skills (Girard et al., 2015).
We investigate whether child disruptiveness moderate the effect of parent speech on child language outcomes. We hypothesize that (a) children with above-average hyperactivity profit less from rich parent-child conversations, as inattentiveness/impulsive behavior can hinder the intake of positive environmental input; (b) children with conduct problems may benefit more from rich parent-child interactions in terms of their language outcomes (Laursen et al., 2022; Yu et al., 2019).
Method: Parent-child dyads reminisced about shared past events during two home visits carried out two years apart. N = 178 Danish-speaking parent (75% mothers) and child (Mage = 4.28, SD = 0.18) dyads participated in the first session; of these families, N = 130 parents (75% mothers) and their children (Mage = 6.25, SD = 0.45) participated in the second session. Parent speech was coded for linguistic quantity (utterances/min, word tokens/min), linguistic quality (word types/min, MLU, labeling of objects/actions), and interactive quality (directives, yes/no questions, close-ended questions, open-ended questions, and repetitions/expansions and corrections of child utterances) at time 1. Child speech was coded for utterances/min, word types/min, word tokens/min, and MLU at both time points. Parent and child language expressive vocabulary were measured using the EOWPVT (Martin & Brownell, 2011) at time 1. Children’s disruptiveness was measured using the hyperactivity and conduct problems subscales of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (Obel et al., 2003) at time 1.
Data analysis plan: Measures of parent speech quantity and quality at time 1 will be used at predictors of child language measures at time 2, controlling for child language measures at time 1, in a hierarchical regression analysis (see Fig 1). Children’s scores on the hyperactivity and conduct problems subscales will be included as moderators of the effect of parent speech at time 1, in two separate models. Parents’ education, gender, age, and expressive vocabulary will be included as covariates of parent speech at time 1.
Contribution: Knowledge of how child characteristics amplify or deteriorate the positive effects of rich parent speech is valuable in the planning of, e.g., parenting programs.

Authors

• Fabio Trecca, Aarhus University

• Riikka Pauliina Svane, Aarhus University
  Presenting Author

• Brett Laursen, Florida Atlantic University

• Erika Hoff, Florida Atlantic University

• Anders Højen

• Dorthe Bleses, Aarhus