Date of Award
1996
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
The transactional model (Sameroff & Chandler, 1975) proposes that a child's development is a product of the interaction of child, parent, and environmental factors over time. Based on this model, this study investigated whether the variables of nonverbal intelligence, emotional/behavioral functioning, parenting stress, and life stress discriminated among preschool-age children with mild to moderate delays in language and those with normal language. Sixty preschool children with a mean age of 4 years, 6 months and their parents participated in this study. There were 28 children in the normal language group (N = 28) and 32 children in the mild to moderately delayed language group (N = 32). All subjects except three were enrolled in Head Start programs. Both groups were similar with respect to age and race. In terms of sex, 75% of the normal language group were females, while 50% of the mild to moderately delayed language group were females. The Preschool Language Scale-3 and the Performance Scale of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised were administered to each child. Parents were asked to complete two questionnaires, the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and the Parenting Stress Index. Results indicated that only the variable of nonverbal intelligence significantly discriminated between the two groups F(1, 58) = 10.03, p $<$.01. Children with mild to moderately delayed language earned a significantly lower mean Performance IQ score compared to children with normal language (89.6 vs. 100.1). The two groups did not significantly differ with regard to parenting stress and scores in both groups were within the normal range. There was also no significant difference between groups in terms of life stress. However, parents in both groups reported experiencing a significantly high number of stressful life events relative to parents in the standardization sample of the Parenting Stress Index. This study also found high rates of moderate to severe emotional/behavioral problems in both the normal and mild to moderately delayed language groups. The findings of this study provide some support for the transactional model of development.
Recommended Citation
Rasico-Hoffman, Jane Lynn, "Relationship Of Emotional/Behavioral, Intellectual, Life Stress, And Parenting Stress Variables To Language Delay In Preschool-Age Children" (1996). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 856.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/856