ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Language has been shown to play a critical role in social cognitive reasoning in preschool and school-aged children, but little research has been conducted with adolescents. During adolescence, the ability to understand figurative language becomes increasingly important for social relationships and may affect social adjustment. This study investigated the contribution of structural and figurative language to social cognitive skills in adolescents who present for mental health services and those who do not. METHOD: One hundred and thirty-eight adolescents referred to mental health centers (clinic group) and 186 nonreferred adolescents (nonclinic group) aged 12-17 were administered measures of structural and figurative language, working memory, and social cognitive problem solving. RESULTS: We found that adolescents in the clinic group demonstrated less mature social problem solving overall, but particularly with respect to anticipating and overcoming potential obstacles and conflict resolution compared with the nonclinic group. In addition, results demonstrated that age, working memory, and structural and figurative language predicted social cognitive maturity in the clinic group, but only structural language was a predictor in the nonclinic group. CONCLUSIONS: Social problem solving may be particularly difficult for adolescents referred for mental health services and places higher demands on their cognitive and language skills compared with adolescents who have never been referred for mental health services.
Subject(s)
Comprehension , Emotional Intelligence , Interpersonal Relations , Language Development Disorders/diagnosis , Language Development Disorders/psychology , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Mental Disorders/psychology , Social Adjustment , Adolescent , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/diagnosis , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/epidemiology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/psychology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/therapy , Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders/epidemiology , Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders/psychology , Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders/therapy , Child , Communication , Comorbidity , Conduct Disorder/diagnosis , Conduct Disorder/epidemiology , Conduct Disorder/psychology , Conduct Disorder/therapy , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/epidemiology , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Depressive Disorder/therapy , Emotions , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Language Development Disorders/epidemiology , Language Development Disorders/therapy , Male , Memory, Short-Term , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Mental Disorders/therapy , Negotiating , Personality Assessment/statistics & numerical data , Problem Solving , Psychometrics , Referral and ConsultationABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Clinic and community-based epidemiological studies have shown an association between child psychopathology and language impairment. The demands on language for social and academic adjustment shift dramatically during adolescence and the ability to understand the nonliteral meaning in language represented by higher order language becomes essential. OBJECTIVES: : This article reports on the association between difficulties in higher order language skills, reading, cognition, and social-emotional adjustment in adolescents. METHOD: : 144 clinic-referred and 186 comparison youth aged 12-18 years were administered a battery of standardized tests of intelligence, working memory, structural and higher order language, and reading achievement. Parent ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist were used as a measure of severity of social-emotional problems. RESULTS: : Clinic-referred youth scored significantly lower than comparison youth on measures of structural and higher order language, working memory, and reading. Of the clinic-referred youth, 45% had some type of higher order language impairment, whereas this was the case for 15% of youth in the comparison group. Lower levels of nonverbal ability and working memory as well as lower level of mothers' education were associated with greater risk of having higher order language impairment. CONCLUSIONS: : Findings have implications for practitioners' seeking to understand and treat adolescents since therapeutic techniques rely on skills where higher order language is at play including the ability to discuss opinions flexibly and to weigh interpretations. Therapists must be aware that there are areas that have potential for miscommunication with some adolescents and where inaccurate inferences may be made about their behavior. Furthermore, educators must consider resources for youth who may increasingly struggle in high school because of such difficulties.
Subject(s)
Language Development Disorders/epidemiology , Language Development Disorders/psychology , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Mental Disorders/psychology , Achievement , Adolescent , Affective Symptoms/diagnosis , Affective Symptoms/epidemiology , Affective Symptoms/psychology , Child , Comorbidity , Comprehension , Dyslexia/diagnosis , Dyslexia/epidemiology , Dyslexia/psychology , Educational Status , Emotional Intelligence , Female , Humans , Intelligence Tests , Language Development Disorders/diagnosis , Male , Memory, Short-Term , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Neuropsychological Tests , Personality Assessment , Semantics , Social AdjustmentABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: China has become a lead country for international adoption because of the relatively young age of the children and reported positive conditions of the orphanages. This study examined the process and outcome of growth and development of children adopted from China over their first two years with their adoptive families. METHOD: Seventy infant girls adopted from China at 8 to 21 months of age (Mean age = 13 months) were examined on arrival in Canada and 6, 12, and 24 months later. Comparisons were made with non-adopted Canadian girls of similar age and from a similar family background as adoptive parents on indices of growth and standardized measures of mental, psychomotor, and language development. RESULTS: At arrival, children adopted from China were smaller physically and exhibited developmental delays compared to current peers. Children adopted from China were functioning in the average range on physical and developmental measures within the first 6 months following adoption. However, they were not performing as well as current peers until the end of their second year after adoption. Even then, there was developmental variation in relation to comparison children and continuation of relatively smaller size with respect to height, weight, and head circumference. Physical measurement was related to outcomes at various points on all developmental measures. CONCLUSIONS: Deprivation in experience in the first year of life has more long-lasting effects on physical growth than on mental development. The variable most consistently related to development was height-to-age ratio. As a measure of nutritional status, the findings reinforce the critical importance of early nutrition.
Subject(s)
Adoption/psychology , Asian People/psychology , Developmental Disabilities/diagnosis , Intelligence , Language Development Disorders/diagnosis , Psychomotor Disorders/diagnosis , Psychosocial Deprivation , Anthropometry , Canada , Child, Preschool , China/ethnology , Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Infant , Language Development Disorders/psychology , Psychomotor Disorders/psychology , Risk Factors , Single-Parent FamilyABSTRACT
This article provides an overview of language impairment and its associated conditions and discusses the interactive relationship between language and other domains of development, using the framework of developmental psychopathology. This framework emphasizes the mutually influential transactions approach between developmental domains within individuals and their environment. How knowledge can be translated to practice is discussed.
Subject(s)
Language Development Disorders/epidemiology , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Affect , Child , Cognition Disorders/epidemiology , Comorbidity , Humans , Nonverbal Communication , Prognosis , Social Perception , Verbal BehaviorABSTRACT
The present study integrates findings from three lines of research on the association of social cognition and externalizing psychopathology, language and externalizing psychopathology, and social cognition and language functioning using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To date these associations have been examined in pairs. A sample of 354 clinic-referred children (aged 7 to 14 years) recruited from a children's mental health centre were tested on measures of language, social cognition, working memory, and child psychopathology. We compared a hypothesized model presenting language functioning as a mediator of the association between social cognition and externalizing psychopathology to a model presenting the independent contribution of language and social cognition to externalizing psychopathology. As hypothesized, we found that the mediation model fits the data better than the alternative model. Our findings have implications for developing and modifying intervention techniques for children with dual language and externalizing psychopathology.