Testing Alternative Hypotheses Regarding the Association Between Behavioral Inhibition and Language Development in Toddlerhood

Studies have reported an inverse association between language development and behavioral inhibition or shyness across childhood, but the direction of this association remains unclear. This study tested alternative hypotheses regarding this association in a large sample of toddlers. Data on behaviora...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development 2014-07, Vol.85 (4), p.1569-1585
Main Authors: Smith Watts, Ashley K., Patel, Deepika, Corley, Robin P., Friedman, Naomi P., Hewitt, John K., Robinson, JoAnn L., Rhee, Soo H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Associations
Behavioural psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Child Behavior
Child Behavior - physiology
Child development
Child, Preschool
Childhood
Children
Correlation
Developmental psychology
EMPIRICAL ARTICLES
Expressive Language
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Hypothesis Testing
Infant
Infants
Inhibition
Inhibition, Psychological
Language
Language Acquisition
Language Development
Language proficiency
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Models, Psychological
Newborn. Infant
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Receptive Language
Regression (Statistics)
Regression analysis
Sex linked differences
Shyness
Statistical variance
Temperament
Toddlers
Twins
Young children
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Summary:Studies have reported an inverse association between language development and behavioral inhibition or shyness across childhood, but the direction of this association remains unclear. This study tested alternative hypotheses regarding this association in a large sample of toddlers. Data on behavioral inhibition and expressive and receptive language abilities were collected from 816 twins at ages 14, 20, and 24 months. Growth and regression models were fit to the data to assess the longitudinal associations between behavioral inhibition and language development from 14 to 24 months. Overall, there were significant associations between behavioral inhibition and expressive language, and minimal associations with receptive language, indicating that the association is better explained by reticence to respond rather than deficient language development.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.1111/cdev.12219