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

TLDR

The study followed 329 children in four longitudinal cohorts from 1;1 to 6;10, using maternal questionnaires, interviews, teacher reports, experimenter assessments, and speech transcripts to evaluate language performance and stability across ages. Language performance showed moderate to strong stability across ages for both genders, with girls outperforming boys consistently from ages 2 to 5 but not before or after.

Abstract

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.