Early temperament as a predictor of language skills at 40 months

Yuuka Ishikawa-Omori; Tomoko Nishimura; Atsuko Nakagawa; Akemi Okumura; Taeko Harada; Chikako Nakayasu; Toshiki Iwabuchi; Yuko Amma; Haruka Suzuki; Mohammad Shafiur Rahman; Ryuji Nakahara; Nagahide Takahashi; Yoko Nomura; Kenji J Tsuchiya

doi:10.1186/s12887-022-03116-5

Early temperament as a predictor of language skills at 40 months

BMC Pediatr. 2022 Jan 21;22(1):56. doi: 10.1186/s12887-022-03116-5.

Authors

Yuuka Ishikawa-Omori¹, Tomoko Nishimura^{1

2}, Atsuko Nakagawa³, Akemi Okumura^{1

2}, Taeko Harada^{1

2}, Chikako Nakayasu², Toshiki Iwabuchi^{1

2}, Yuko Amma², Haruka Suzuki², Mohammad Shafiur Rahman^{1

2}, Ryuji Nakahara², Nagahide Takahashi^{1

2}, Yoko Nomura^{2

4

5}, Kenji J Tsuchiya^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University, and University of Fukui, Handayama 1 Higashiku, Hamamatsu, 4313192, Japan.
² Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Handayama 1 Higashiku, Hamamatsu, 4313192, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nagoya City University, Mizuho-cho Yamanohata 1, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 4678501, Japan.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Queens College, City University of New York, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, New York, NY, 11367, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
⁶ Department of Child Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University, and University of Fukui, Handayama 1 Higashiku, Hamamatsu, 4313192, Japan. tsuchiya@hama-med.ac.jp.
⁷ Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Handayama 1 Higashiku, Hamamatsu, 4313192, Japan. tsuchiya@hama-med.ac.jp.

Abstract

Background: Mastering language involves the development of expressive and receptive skills among children. While it has been speculated that early temperament plays a role in the acquisition of language, the actual mechanism has not yet been explored. We investigated whether temperament at 18 months predicted expressive or receptive language skills at 40 months.

Methods: A representative sample of 901 children and their mothers who were enrolled and followed-up longitudinally in the Hamamatsu Birth Cohort for Mothers and Children study was included in the analysis. Child temperament was measured at 18 months using the Japanese version of the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. Expressive and receptive language skills were measured at 40 months using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning.

Results: The multiple regression analysis, adjusting for potential confounders, suggested that higher motor activation (fidgeting) at 18 months was associated with lower expressive and receptive language skills at 40 months. Higher perceptual sensitivity was associated with higher expressive and receptive language skills at 40 months.

Conclusions: Specific temperament at 18 months of age predicted the development of the child's expressive and receptive language skills at 40 months.

Keywords: Cohort study; Early childhood behavior questionnaire (ECBQ); Language skills; Temperament.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child
Child, Preschool
Cognition
Female
Humans
Language Development
Language*
Mothers
Temperament*