Exploring moderating role of home/classroom quality on language & behavior

描述（由申请人提供）：来自低收入家庭的儿童在发展语言迟缓，社交技能差和行为问题方面的风险较高。及早发现可能导致儿童行为问题和社交技能低下的潜在因素至关重要，这样才能提供有效的预防和干预战略。很少有研究探讨母亲抑郁症状、家庭和课堂环境对儿童语言和行为之间关系的潜在调节作用。拟议的研究是首次尝试使用纵向设计和尖端观察方法来解决这一紧迫的公共卫生问题。具体目的是：(1)确定儿童的早期语言能力是否可以预测以后的行为问题和不良社交技能的发展轨迹，以及这种预测的强度在单语英语儿童和双语西班牙裔儿童中是否有所不同。(2)确定英语和西班牙语能力对双语西班牙裔儿童的行为问题和社交技能的预测是否存在差异。(3)确定家庭环境、课堂质量和母亲抑郁症状水平在多大程度上调节儿童语言能力与其后来的行为问题和社交技能之间的纵向关系。方法：大约200名参加“启智计划”的3- 4岁儿童及其母亲将参与这项研究。英语儿童的语言能力将在T1， T2（12个月后）和T3（6个月后）进行评估。只讲西班牙语的儿童将在T1的标准化语言测试和语言筛选中接受西班牙语评估，在T2和T3将接受西班牙语和英语评估。儿童行为问题和社交技能的测量将在三个时间点从教师和家长的报告中收集。200名学生将在三个时间点接受40分钟的直接观察，这是一种创新和全面的直接观察系统。母亲将在T1完成母亲抑郁量表和家庭筛查问卷。使用《课堂评估评分系统》和《儿童学习环境互动记录课堂代码》对课堂质量进行评估。结构方程模型将用于证明儿童早期语言能力的变化是否与长期的行为轨迹密切相关，以及母亲抑郁和家庭和课堂质量是否会调节儿童语言和行为之间的关系。意义：本研究的成功完成将通过提供对可能调节这些重要关系的保护性和风险因素的新见解，推进有关早期语言能力与后来的行为问题和后来的社交技能之间关系的理论。这些理论及其重要的实践意义被特殊教育工作者、言语/语言病理学家、发展心理学家、临床心理学家和精神病学家所利用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children from low-income families are at heightened risk for developing language delays, poor social skills, and behavior problems. Early identification of the potential factors that may contribute to children's behavior problems and poor social skills is critical so that effective strategies for prevention and intervention can be provided. Few studies have explored the potential moderating effects of maternal depressive symptoms, home, and classroom environments on the relationship between child language and behavior. The proposed study represents the first attempt to use a longitudinal design and cutting edge observational methods to address this urgent public health problem. The Specific Aims are: (1) Determine whether children's early language abilities predict later trajectories of behavioral problems and poor social skills and whether the strength of this prediction differs for monolingual English-speaking children versus bilingual Hispanic children. (2) Determine whether English and Spanish language abilities predict behavior problems and social skills differentially for bilingual Hispanic children. (3) Determine the degree to which levels of home environment, classroom quality, and maternal depressive symptoms moderate the longitudinal relationships between children's language ability and their later behavior problems and social skills. Methods: Approximately 200 3- to 4-year-old children who attend Head Start and their mothers will participate in the study. English-speaking children's language skills will be assessed at T1, T2 (12 months later), and T3 (6 months later). Spanish-only speaking children will be assessed in Spanish on a standardized language test and a language screener at T1, and will be assessed in both Spanish and English at T2 and T3. Measures of children's behavior problems and social skills will be collected from teacher and parent reports at three time points. Each of the 200 children will be observed in their classrooms for 40 minutes at three time points with an innovative and comprehensive direct observational system. Mothers will complete a maternal depression scale and Home Screening Questionnaire at T1. Classroom quality will be assessed with Classroom Assessment Scoring System and the Classroom Code for Interactive Recording of Children's Learning Environment. Structural equation models will be used to demonstrate whether changes in children's early language abilities are linked strongly to behavioral trajectories over time and whether maternal depression and home and classroom qualities moderate the relationship between children's language and behavior. Significance: The successful completion of the aims will advance the theories regarding relationships of early language abilities to later behavior problems and to later social skills by providing new insights into protective and risk factors that may moderate these important relations. These theories and their important practical implications are utilized by special educators, speech/language pathologists, developmental psychologists, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Children from low-income families are at heightened risk for developing language delays, poor social skills, and behavior problems. Early identification of the potential factors that may contribute to children's behavior problems and poor social skills is critical so that effective strategies for prevention and intervention can be provided. Increasing language skills in children may reduce the behavior problems and so reduce the large costs of special education and related services.