Longitudinal effects on early adolescent language: A twin study

Submitter: Laura DeThorne

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/92616 Copy

Description

Title

Longitudinal effects on early adolescent language: A twin study

Issue Date

2016

Keyword(s)

adolescent language twin study

Abstract

Purpose: We evaluated genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in language skills during early adolescence, measured both by language sampling and standardized tests, and examined the extent to which these genetic and environmental effects are stable across time. Method: We employed structural equation modeling on latent factors to estimate additive genetic (A), shared environmental (C), and nonshared environmental (E) effects on variance in standardized language skills (i.e., Formal Language) and productive language sample measures (i.e., Productive language) in a sample of 527 twins across three time points (mean ages 10-12). Results: Individual differences in the Formal Language factor were influenced primarily by genetic factors at each age, whereas individual differences in the Productive language factor were primarily due to nonshared environmental influences. For the Formal language factor, the stability of genetic effects was high across all three time points. For the Productive language factor, nonshared environmental effects showed low but statistically significant stability across adjacent time points. Conclusions: The etiology of language outcomes may differ substantially based on assessment context. In addition, the potential mechanisms for nonshared environmental influences on language development warrant further investigation.

Publisher

JSLHR

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/92616

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-15-0257

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD38075, HD46167, HD050307)

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