Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

Psychology

Date of Award

5-2011

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Wallace E. Dixon Jr.

Committee Members

Jodi Polaha, Kerry Proctor-Williams

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate temperament-language relationships among school-age children and across a wider variety of SES. Head Start, Pre-K, and Kindergarten classes of 10 elementary schools located in rural Appalachia were sent information about the study and 35 children were consented to participate. Parents completed a short demographic survey and the Child Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form (CBQ-VSF). Children were administered the Preschool Language Scale-4 (PLS-4). Participants were split into low and high SES groups so associations between the CBQ and PLS-4 scores could be compared at each SES strata. Both reactivity and self-regulation were associated with language outcomes, consistent with prior research. Importantly, socioeconomic status was not found to moderate observed temperament-language relationships, so prior temperament-language research findings do not seem to be an artifact of high SES samples.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Share

COinS