Mariam Abbasi, Emma Green, Heather Henderson Introduction Measures Social Development Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo Associations Between Shyness and Language Development Over Middle Childhood Shyness in children was not associated with language, however, the broader construct of social skills was found to be lower in children higher in shyness, at 7 and 8. Results of our study suggest that there are two potential pathways to language improvement : 1. Cognitive pathway : • Better receptive language at 7 predicted better language at 8 across all of the measures. 2. Social pathway : • When receptive language was taken into consideration, social skills at 7 predicted better expressive and pragmatic language at 8. • This is interesting because this indicates that children’s ability to engage with a social world and interact with others effectively influences how well they will perform on these more social forms of language (expressive and pragmatics). These findings imply that not all language abilities are cognitive. In fact, there are independent factors from a child’s day-to-day experience and temperament that will lead to variable outcomes. Shyness - discomfort/awkwardness in social situations 1 ● Correlated with a variety of social behaviors including social anxiety, social withdrawal and inhibition towards novel people and contexts 2 Receptive language – all the words a child understands 3 Expressive language – consists of the words children express and use every day 3 Pragmatic language skills – following the rules of conversation, knowing how to change use of language for different purposes and altering language based on who the listener is and the situation 4 How do children’s social abilities impact language development in childhood? ● Shyness associated with lower scores on both expressive and receptive language measures in preschoolers 5 ● In unfamiliar situations, shy children will converse less than non-shy peers. In familiar situations, however, shy children converse as much as their non-shy peers 6 . Hypothesis 1. Receptive language abilities at age 7 will predict later language abilities at age 8 2. Social skills will improve children’s language abilities over time, over and above the effects of earlier receptive language Participants were 91 7-year olds (mean age= 7.30 years, SD= 0.30) recruited as part of a short-term longitudinal study; 71 participants returned for an 8-year assessment (mean age= 8.35 years, SD= 0.30) Participants Child Behaviour Questionnaire 7 ● 94-item parent-report measure with 7-point Likert scale Shyness subscale (6 items; higher average = higher shyness) Results Research funded by SSHRC Insight Grant 435-2016-0494 (PI Henderson) References 1. Cheek et al., 1981 2. Cheung & Elliott, 2017 3. Taylor et al., 2013 4. Prutting & Kirchner, 1987 5. Spere et al., 2004 6. Asendorpf & Meier, 1993 7. Rothbart et al., 2004 8. Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015 9. Dunn & Dunn, 1997 10. Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999 Discussion Future Directions Examine how the interplay of expressive/pragmatic language abilities and social skills affects real-world peer-to-peer communication in children and how these may affect long-term development. Receptive (7 & 8 year) ● Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test via NIH Toolbox 9 ○ 4 images presented via iPad followed by an audio presentation of a word. Participant selects image that matches word. ~ 25 items; higher total score = greater receptive vocabulary Expressive (8 year) ● Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language- Second Edition 10 - Expressive Language subtest ○ Direct assessment measure consisting of 71 items, free response to verbally presented fill-in-the-blank question; higher total raw score = greater expressive vocabulary Shyness Language Social Skills Behaviour Assessment System for Children (BASC – 3 rd ed ) 8 • 175-item parent-report measure with 4-point Likert scale Social skills subscale (10 items; higher total score = higher rate of social skills) Pragmatic (8 year) ● Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language- Second Edition 10 - Pragmatic Language subtest ○ Direct assessment measure consisting of 56 items, free response to verbally presented hypothetical scenarios; higher total raw score = greater pragmatic language knowledge Receptive language (7) and social skills (7) predicting language at 8 years β F df R 2 Receptive language (8 year) Overall 9.78*** 2, 68 .68 Receptive language (7 year) .46*** Social skills (7 year) .05 Expressive language (8 year) Overall 20.73*** 2,65 .002 Receptive language (7 year) .62*** Social skills (7 year) .41** Pragmatic language (8 year) Overall 7.39** 2,66 .04 Receptive language (7 year) .44** Social skills (7 year) .32* Note: * = p <.05; ** = p <.01; *** = p <.001 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 Social skills (7 year) Shyness (7 year) 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 Social skills (8 year) Shyness (8 year) r(91)=-.321, p =.002 r(69)=-.252, p =.037 Fig 1. Association between shyness and social skills at 7 years Fig 2. Association between shyness and social skills at 8 years