Emotional vitality in infancy as a predictor of cognitive and language abilities in toddlerhood

Abstract

Previous work by our group has shown that infant emotional vitality (EV), the lively expression of shared emotion both positive and negative, predicts cognitive and language abilities in toddlerhood. Specifically, infants who demonstrated a pattern of high emotional expression combined with high bids to their caregivers, fared significantly better on the Bayley II and Preschool Language Scales (PLS-3) at 2 years of age than infants who showed both low expression and low bids to mother. That study was conducted on a large, low-income, ethnically diverse sample. The current study was undertaken with a smaller but demographically similar sample as an effort to demonstrate the value of EV as a construct and to provide additional information about its links with later developmental outcomes. Replication that included a variation in the age at which EV was assessed provides support for the generalizability of the construct. In addition, this study examined EV's effects further into childhood than did the original study in order to insure they are not limited to a brief window in toddlerhood. The results indicate that over and above maternal psychological resources, EV expressed during positive/joyful and frustrating circumstances in 8-month-olds accounted for significant portions of variance in expressive language at 30 months and cognitive-developmental assessments at 24 and 36 months. This study supports EV as an important relational-emotional behaviour that increases experiences that optimize developmental outcomes. Successful replication suggests that EV holds promise as a construct with clinical utility for early interventions attempting to improve developmental outcomes in children from poor families.

The Influence of Early Temperament on Language Development: The Moderating Role of Maternal Input

“…Our findings are supported by the branch of the literature which has suggested that negative affect expression, viewed as an emotional regulatory strategy, may create developmental opportunities by eliciting the mother’s assistance to continue engaging in goal-directed behavior (Moreno and Robinson, 2005). Greater expressions of negativity may elicit more attention from their mothers, resulting in more dyadic interchanges which may promote vocabulary acquisition.…”

Temperamento de Bebês Residentes no Cárcere

“…Um estudo realizado com crianças aos 7 meses com relação à sorriso e riso, encontrou melhor linguagem receptiva quando a criança havia completado 10 meses de idade (Dixon & Smith, 2000) e mais expressões de alegria aos 8 meses relacionaram-se à melhor linguagem expressiva aos 30 meses (Moreno & Robinson, 2005).…”

Happy babies, chatty toddlers: Infant positive affect facilitates early expressive, but not receptive language

“…To date, infant PA has been considered by only a few studies in relation to emerging language abilities and results have been mixed. For example, infants who displayed more smiling and laughter at 7 months were found to have better receptive language at 10 months (Dixon & Smith, 2000) and more expressions of joy at 8 months were related to better expressive language at 30 months (Moreno & Robinson, 2005). However, higher PA at 8 months of age has also shown negative associations with receptive vocabulary at 4.5 years of age (Wolfe & Bell, 2007).…”

“…It is also important to note that no studies were identified that examined both infant PA broadly and fine-grained aspects of PA in relation to language development. Furthermore, language is typically measured with parent report questionnaires, as opposed to objective standardized measures (Moreno & Robinson, 2005, is a notable exception). Although parent reports of language skills have established validity, they are generally limited to vocabulary checklists, lacking the breadth of language assessment available with standardized measures.…”