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Specific and general language performance across early childhood: Stability and gender considerations

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA, Marc_H_Bornstein{at}nih.gov

Chun-Shin Hahn

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA

O. Maurice Haynes

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA

Altogether 329 children participated in four longitudinal studies of specific and general language performance cumulatively from 1;1 to 6;10. Data were drawn from age-appropriate maternal questionnaires, maternal interviews, teacher reports, experimenter assessments and transcripts of children’s own spontaneous speech. Language performance at each age and stability of individual differences across age in girls and boys were assessed separately and together. Across age, including the important transition from preschool to school, across multiple tests at each age and across multiple reporters, children showed moderate to strong stability of individual differences; girls and boys alike were stable. In the second through fifth years, but not before or after, girls consistently outperformed boys in multiple specific and general measures of language.

Key Words: gender • IQ • language • longitudinal study • methods • stability • verbal ability

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