Two independent prospective longitudinal studies that cumulatively spanned the age interval from 4 years to 14 years used multi-wave designs to investigate developmental associations between language and behavioral adjustment (internalizing and externalizing behavior problems). Altogether 224 children, their mothers, and teachers provided data. Series of nested path analysis models were used to determine the most parsimonious and plausible paths among the three constructs over and above stability in each across age and their covariation at each age. In both studies, children with poorer language skills in early childhood had more internalizing behavior problems in later childhood and in early adolescence. These developmental paths between language and behavioral adjustment held after taking into consideration children’s nonverbal intellectual functioning, maternal verbal intelligence, education, parenting knowledge, and social desirability bias, as well as family socioeconomic status, and they applied equally to girls and boys.

A developmental cascade defines a longitudinal relation in which one psychological characteristic uniquely affects another psychological characteristic later in time, separately from other intrapersonal and extrapersonal factors. Here, we report results of a large-scale (N = 374), normative, prospective, 14-year longitudinal, multivariate, multisource, controlled study of a developmental cascade from infant motor-exploratory competence at 5 months to adolescent academic achievement at 14 years, through conceptually related and age-appropriate measures of psychometric intelligence at 4 and 10 years and academic achievement at 10 years. This developmental cascade applied equally to girls and boys and was independent of children’s behavioral adjustment and social competence; mothers’ supportive caregiving, verbal intelligence, education, and parenting knowledge; and the material home environment. Infants who were more motorically mature and who explored more actively at 5 months of age achieved higher academic levels as 14-year-olds.

In a large-scale (N = 317) prospective 8-year longitudinal multiage, multidomain, multivariate, multisource study, we tested a conservative three-term model linking parenting cognitions in toddlerhood to parenting practices in preschool to classroom externalizing behavior in middle childhood, controlling for earlier parenting practices and child externalizing behavior. Mothers who were more knowledgeable, satisfied, and attributed successes in their parenting to themselves when their toddlers were 20 months of age engaged in increased supportive parenting during joint activity tasks 2 years later when their children were 4 years of age, and 6 years after that their 10-year-olds were rated by teachers as having fewer classroom externalizing behavior problems. This developmental cascade of a "standard model" of parenting applied equally to families with girls and boys, and the cascade from parenting attributions to supportive parenting to child externalizing behavior obtained independent of 12 child, parent, and family covariates. Conceptualizing socialization in terms of cascades helps to identify points of effective intervention.

The role of maternal chronological age in prenatal and perinatal history, social support, and parenting practices of new mothers (N = 335) was examined. Primiparas of 5-month-old infants ranged in age from 13 to 42 years. Age effects were zero, linear, and nonlinear. Nonlinear age effects were significantly associated up to a certain age with little or no association afterward; by spline regression, estimated points at which the slope of the regression line changed were 25 years for prenatal and perinatal history, 31 years for social supports, and 27 years for parenting practices. Given the expanding age range of first-time parents, these findings underscore the importance of incorporating maternal age as a factor in studies of parenting and child development. KeywordsMaternal age; maternal practices; parenting; social support When angels inform the 99-year-old Abraham that his 90-year-old wife will soon give birth, Sarah overhears and "laughed to herself saying, 'After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure.'" (Genesis 18:12) Contemporary Demographic Trends in Maternal AgeThe mean age for first births in the United States is 25.1 years and rising . This overall gradient reflects two trend lines. First, the rate of teenage motherhood is waning slightly, although the United States has the highest percentage of teen (15-19) births among industrialized nations (421,626 in 2003;Hamilton, Martin, & Sutton, 2004). Second, waxing numbers of older adult women are delaying conception, thus expanding the age range for first-time parenthood (Hamilton et al., 2004). According to the National Vital Statistics Reports , birth rates for women 25-39 increased by about 1-2% each year from 1991 to 2001, and births to women aged 35-39 and 40-44 years reached record highs in 2002, rising 31% and 43%, respectively, since 1990. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptThese demographic changes are ascribable to several factors. An array of youth sex education programs that stress both abstinence and contraception, welfare reform, the rise of a more religious and conservative generation, and an economic climate with more opportunities for women may contribute to the slight decline in the teen birthrate (McKay & Carrns, 2004). Similarly, multiple factors operate at the other end of the age continuum. The aging of the baby boom generation translates into greater absolute numbers of older women than in previous decades (Ventura, Martin, Curtin, & Mathews, 1997). Delayed marriage, the pursuit of advanced education, careerism, and high rates of divorce all postpone childbearing (Barber, 2001), and advances in birth control and assisted reproductive technologies have made it possible to delay pregnancy (Borini et al., 2004;Golombok, 2002;Lee et al., 2004;Paulson & Sachs, 1998).These demographic trends, in turn, raise questions about what effects obtain between maternal age and central issues related to first-time parenting, viz. prenatal and perinatal statu...

This four-wave prospective longitudinal study evaluated stability of language in 324 children from early childhood to adolescence. Structural equation modeling supported loadings of multiple age-appropriate multi-source measures of child language on single-factor core language skills at 20 months and 4, 10, and 14 years. Large stability coefficients (standardized indirect effect = .46) were obtained between language latent variables from early childhood to adolescence and accounting for child nonverbal intelligence and social competence and maternal verbal intelligence, education, speech, and social desirability. Stability coefficients were similar for girls and boys. Stability of core language skill was stronger from 4 to 10 to 14 years than from 20 months to 4 years, so early intervention to improve lagging language is recommended.