The effects of attachment and social pragmatic skills on language learning in internationally adopted children

Brenna C LeJeune, Purdue University

Abstract

The number of internationally adopted children recently has increased, yet very little is known about how institutionalization affects language development in a novel linguistic environment. This dissertation presents a systematic study of the effects of attachment and social pragmatic skills on expressive vocabulary six months following adoption. A theory of neurolinguistic development was combined with attachment theory and the literature describing the importance of social pragmatic skills to derive a theoretical model in which these skills mediate the relation between attachment and vocabulary production. A second, distinct pathway to expressive vocabulary development also was considered, in which cognitive ability mediates the relation between age at adoption and vocabulary production. Participants were 43 children ages 12 to 34 months who had been adopted into the U.S. from various foreign nations at an average of 7 months prior to participation. Measures included the Early Social Communication Scales, the Attachment Security Questionnaire, and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory. Cognitive ability was measured with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used in hypothesis testing. In general, the results did not show an effect of attachment to caregiver on vocabulary production at this time point. The child's ability to initiate joint attention, of established importance in language development, was related to attachment to the caregiver. Additionally, there was a trend toward an association between initiating joint attention and indiscriminate friendliness. Relations between responding to joint attention and language outcomes appeared to be driven by the child's age and cognitive ability. Exploration of the second proposed pathway showed that cognitive ability moderated, rather than mediated, the relation between age at adoption and expressive language development. The absence of a relation between attachment and language development speaks to the tenuous nature of associations early in the post-adoption parent-child relationship, and suggests that the first six months following adoption may be an especially opportune time for intervention. Moreover, the absence of findings at this point in time underscores the need for longitudinal assessment, even among families who deny early difficulties, as children may "grow into" deficits not apparent so early following adoption.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Johnson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Psychotherapy|Cognitive therapy

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