Physical aggression and language ability from 17 to 72 months: cross-lagged effects in a population sample.
BACKGROUND
Does poor language ability in early childhood increase the likelihood of physical aggression or is language ability delayed by frequent physical aggression? This study examined the longitudinal associations between physical aggression and language ability from toddlerhood to early childhood in a population sample while controlling for parenting behaviours, non-verbal intellectual functioning, and children's sex.


METHODS
Children enrolled in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) (N = 2, 057) were assessed longitudinally from 17 to 72 months via parent reports and standardized assessments.


RESULTS
The cross-lagged models revealed modest reciprocal associations between physical aggression and language performance from 17 to 41 months but not thereafter.


CONCLUSIONS
Significant associations between physical aggression and poor language ability are minimal and limited to the period when physical aggression and language performance are both substantially increasing. During that period parenting behaviours may play an important role in supporting language ability while reducing the frequency of physical aggression. Further studies are needed that utilize multiple assessments of physical aggression, assess multiple domains of language abilities, and that examine the potential mediating role of parenting behaviours between 12 and 48 months.
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment (GRIP), Université de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Paris-Sud Innovation Group in Adolescent Mental Health, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM U669), Paris, France.
Lisa-Christine
LC
Girard
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Jean-Baptiste
JB
Pingault
Paris-Sud Innovation Group in Adolescent Mental Health, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM U669), Paris, France; Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris-Sud, Paris, France; Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris-Descartes, Paris, France.
Bruno
B
Falissard
School of Psychology, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; Institute of Genetic, Neurobiological, and Social Foundations of Child Development, Tomsk State University, Russian Federation, Tomsk, Russia.
Michel
M
Boivin
School of Psychology, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
Ginette
G
Dionne
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment (GRIP), Université de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Institute of Genetic, Neurobiological, and Social Foundations of Child Development, Tomsk State University, Russian Federation, Tomsk, Russia; Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology, Université de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Population Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Richard E
RE
Tremblay
D000374:Aggression; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007802:Language; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011792:Quebec