Publication Date
2017
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Bridgett, David J.
Degree Name
Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
Legacy Department
Department of Psychology
LCSH
Clinical psychology; Developmental psychology; Linguistics
Abstract
Early language development has implications for children's cognitive, academic, and socio-emotional growth throughout childhood. Language acquisition is influenced by various individual (e.g., infant temperament) and contextual (e.g., language input from caregivers) factors. As such, the current study investigated the relationship between the growth of infant positive affect (PA) across 6 - 12 months of age, maternal language during a wordless book task at 18 months, and language at 14 and 24 months of age. The study included a total of 162 mother-infant dyads, the majority of which were Caucasian (70.8%). Transcripts of maternal language during the wordless book task were coded for use of pragmatic language, from which two factors were extracted (i.e., Narrative Speech and Response to Child Speech). Structural equation modeling was used for primary analyses. Results indicated that higher infant PA at 6 months and steeper slopes of PA growth across 6-12 months predicted maternal Narrative Speech, but not Response to Child Speech, at 18 months. Infant gender and maternal verbal fluency predicted infant language at 14 months. Models including infant language at 24 months resulted in poor fit and were not interpretable. Implications of the results and future directions for research are discussed.
Recommended Citation
DeVlieger, Lauren Laake, "Language development at 24 months : contributions from the growth of infant positive affect and maternal quality of speech during a wordless book task" (2017). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 3756.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/3756
Extent
139 pages
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
Comments
Advisors: David J. Bridgett.||Committee members: Julia Ogg; Janet Olson; Laura Pittman; Elizabeth Shelleby; Katja Wiemer.||Includes illustrations.||Includes bibliographical references.