Psychosocial deprivation and receptive language ability: a two-sample study

Kathryn L Humphreys, Laura S Machlin, Katherine L Guyon-Harris, Charles A Nelson, Nathan A Fox, Charles H Zeanah, Kathryn L Humphreys, Laura S Machlin, Katherine L Guyon-Harris, Charles A Nelson, Nathan A Fox, Charles H Zeanah

Abstract

Background: The quality of early caregiving experiences is a known contributor to the quality of the language experiences young children receive. What is unknown is whether, and if so, how psychosocial deprivation early in life is associated with long-lasting receptive language outcomes.

Methods: Two prospective longitudinal studies examining early psychosocial deprivation/neglect in different contexts (i.e., deprivation due to institutional care or deprivation experienced by children residing within US families) and receptive language as assessed via the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) were used to assess the magnitude of these associations. First, 129 participants from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care in Romania, completed a receptive language assessment at age 18 years. Second, from the USA, 3342 participants from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were assessed from infancy until middle childhood.

Results: Children exposed to early institutional care, on average, had lower receptive language scores than their never institutionalized counterparts in late adolescence. While randomization to an early foster care intervention had no long-lasting association with PPVT scores, the duration of childhood exposure to institutional care was negatively associated with receptive language. Psychosocial deprivation in US families was also negatively associated with receptive language longitudinally, and this association remained statistically significant even after accounting for measures of socioeconomic status.

Conclusion: Experiences of psychosocial deprivation may have long-lasting consequences for receptive language ability, extending to age 18 years. Psychosocial deprivation is an important prospective predictor of poorer receptive language.

Trial registration: Bucharest Early Intervention Project ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00747396.

Keywords: Deprivation; Neglect; Receptive language; Socioeconomic status.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA for study flow from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Childhood deprivation experiences and receptive language were assessed as part 5 of the 3rd Follow-up/age 16 year assessment (when participants were approximately age 18 years)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Scatterplot illustrating the association between percent time in institutional care from birth to age 18 years and standard score from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) at age 18 years. Raw associations are presented and statistics provided in the text are adjusted for participant sex
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Model demonstrating associations between deprivation and receptive language ability of the child at year 9. Coefficients are standardized betas. Solid lines depict significant paths. Cognitive stimulation at years 1 and 3 was allowed to covary. For factor loadings of deprivation, see Table 1

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