Core Language Predictors of Behavioral Functioning in Early Elementary School Children: Concurrent and Longitudinal Findings

Review of ResearchThe study of the association between language problems and subsequent social-behavioral difficulties has a relatively short history elating back a little more than a quarter of a century (Brinton & Fujiki, 1993; Camp, Van Doorminck, Zimet, & Dahlem, 1977; Jenkins, Bax, & Hart, 1980); however, this history has been rich with respect to associating a variety of language functions with social and behavioral difficulties (Benner, Nelson, & Epstein, 2002). This relationship has been examined in children with behavior problems, including those with formal psychiatric diagnoses and those loosely defined as having behavioral disorders, as well as in children with language impairments.Findings in Children with Behavior ProblemsThe literature suggests that there is a relatively high rate of brain dysfunction among children and adolescents with behavioral and psychiatric disorders (Hooper & Tramontana, 1997), with rates being as high as 50% in hospitalized child and adolescent psychiatric patients who had neither a documented history of brain damage nor positive findings on a routine neurological examination. The presence of brain dysfunction in childhood appears to place the affected individual at greater risk for the development of a psychiatric disorder and to have a poorer outcome in later years, far more so than with other physical disabilities. The precise mechanisms underlying this increased risk remain poorly defined, but the relationship appears to hold regardless of chronological age, gender, or psychosocial status of the individual (Rutter, Chadwick, & Shaffer, 1983).Giancola and Mezzich (2000) demonstrated that adolescent females with conduct disorder and associated antisocial behaviors exhibited lower language abilities on the Test of Language Competence than did controls. Similar findings were reported by Dery, Toupin, Pauze, Mercier, and Fortin (1999). Giddan, Milling, and Campbell (1996) examined the prevalence of speech and language deficits among 55 preadolescents admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit. These investigators found a 60% rate of speech and language deficits in this sample, with these problems being most prevalent among children with overanxious disorder, anxiety disorder, and aggressive conduct disorder. Warr-Leeper, Wright, and Mack (1994) reported an 80% prevalence of language impairment using standardized measures in 20 monolingual boys, aged 10 to 13 years, in residential treatment secondary to antisocial behaviors. Primary problems included oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. More specifically, Linz, Hooper, Hynd, Isaac, and Gibson (1990) found that receptive language problems were predictive of disinhibitory behaviors in adolescents with conduct disorder. Similar studies have documented the importance of language dysfunction to subsequent behavior problems in older children and adolescent populations (e.g., Hooper & Brown, 2003; McManus, Brickman, Alessi, & Grapentine, 1985).The finding of language dysfunction in children loosely identified as having behavioral disorders also has begun to be documented. While many of these children clearly are at risk for manifesting specific psychiatric disorders (Mattison et al., 1986), the relationship between language dysfunction and co-occurring behavior problems continues to be present. For example, Griffith, Rogers-Adkinson, and Cusick (1997) reported a high prevalence of pragmatic language problems in their sample of children with behavioral disorders who were being served in residential treatment programs, with rates ranging from 55% to 83%. These findings have been echoed by a variety of other investigators (Cohen, Davine, Horodezky, Lipsett, & Isaacson, 1993; Trautman, Giddan, & Jurs, 1990; Vallance, Cummings, & Humphries, 1998), with the general conclusion being that children with behavioral disorders, whether they are highly delineated or more loosely defined, tend to show a higher rate of language dysfunction than do their peers without behavioral disorders. …