Prediction of toddlers’ expressive language from maternal sensitivity and toddlers’ anger expressions: A developmental perspective

Abstract

Despite evidence for the importance of individual differences in expressive language during toddlerhood in predicting later literacy skills, few researchers have examined individual and contextual factors related to language abilities across the toddler years. Furthermore, a gap remains in the literature about the extent to which the relations of negative emotions and parenting to language skills may differ for girls and boys. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the associations among maternal sensitivity, children’s observed anger reactivity, and expressive language when children were 18 (T1; n = 247) and 30 (T2; n = 216) months. At each age, mothers reported on their toddlers’ expressive language, and mothers’ sensitive parenting behavior was observed during an unstructured free-play task. Toddlers’ anger expressions were observed during an emotion-eliciting task. Using path modeling, results showed few relations at T1. At T2, maternal sensitivity was negatively related to anger, and in turn, anger was associated with lower language skills. However, moderation analyses showed that these findings were significant for boys but not for girls. In addition, T1 maternal sensitivity and anger positively predicted expressive language longitudinally for both sexes. Findings suggest that the relations between maternal sensitivity, anger reactivity and expressive language may vary depending on the child’s developmental stage and sex.

Evaluating Caregiver Sensitivity to Infants: Measures Matter

“…Our findings offer a partial explanation for inconsistent reports on relations between sensitivity and developmental outcomes in children (Paavola et al., ; Pillhofer et al., ). The data raise broad questions about the examination of caregiver sensitivity in research and practice, the repercussions for its predictive value in child development, and, not least, the value of using sensitivity assessment results in the design of parenting interventions (Nozadi et al., ; Vallotton et al., ; Vandell, Belsky, Burchinal, Steinberg, & Vandergrift, ). Given the common assumption that available caregiver sensitivity measures all capture a common construct, child development researchers typically may prefer to use measures that require less administration time, less training, and simpler reliability procedures, for example the NCAFS (Tryphonopoulos et al., ).…”

“…The putative significance of sensitivity is based on studies that have linked it to important psychosocial, cognitive, and physiological developmental outcomes (Bakermans‐Kranenburg, van IJzendoorn, & Juffer, ; Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, ; Feldman, Eidelman, & Rotenberg, ; Hirsh‐Pasek & Burchinal, ; Lemelin, Tarabulsy, & Provost, ; Mesman, van IJzendoorn, & Bakermans‐Kranenburg, ). Research has further uncovered associations of caregiver sensitivity with specific aspects of child language and intellectual and academic development (Feldman et al., ; Hirsh‐Pasek & Burchinal, ; Lemelin et al., ; Nozadi et al., ; Paavola et al., ; Roger Mills‐Koonce et al., ; Vallotton, Mastergeorge, Foster, Decker, & Ayoub, ), associations that may not be quite so robust or unique as those reported for other aspects of child development (Page et al., ).…”

Expressive language and prosocial behaviour in early childhood: Longitudinal associations in the UK Millennium Cohort Study

“…For example, positive parenting has been associated with both increased prosocial engagement (Barnett et al, 2012;Nozadi et al, 2013) and better language outcomes (Barnett et al, 2012;Hann, Osofsk, & Culp, 1996); while harsh parenting has been negatively associated prosocial behaviour (Dunn, Deater-Deckard, Pickering, O'Connor & Golding, 1998) and to a lesser extent with language outcomes (Pungello, Iruka, Dotterer, Mills-Koonce, & Reznick, 2009). There has been mixed support for maternal depression.…”

Analyzing early child development, influential conditions, and future impacts: prospects of a German newborn cohort study

“…The quality of maternal interaction behavior has been shown to impact a child's language (Nozadi et al 2013;Tamis-LeMonda et al 2001), cognitive (NICHD 1998;Pearson et al 2011), and socio-emotional development (Bigelow et al 2010;Meins et al 2001). High-quality maternal interaction behavior in very early childhood is mostly described as interaction behavior that provides the child with emotional support in terms of sensitivity, which is defined as a prompt, warm, and contingent reaction to the child's needs and signals (Ainsworth et al 1974).…”