title: Baby babbling at five months linked to sex hormone levels in early infancy.
abstract: Gender-dependent differentiation of the brain at morphological, neurochemical and functional levels of organization have been shown to be primarily controlled by sex differences in gonadal hormone concentrations during pre- and early postnatal development. Indeed, previous studies have reported that pre- and perinatal hormonal environments influence brain development and, consequently, affect sex specific long-term language outcomes. Herein, we investigated whether postnatal surges of estrogen (estradiol) and androgen (testosterone) may predict properties of pre-speech babbling at five months. This study is the first attempt to investigate a possible correlation between sex hormones and infants' articulatory skills during the typical postnatal period of extended hormonal activity known as 'mini-puberty.' A hierarchical, multiple regression approach revealed a significant, robust positive relationship between 4-week concentrations of estradiol and individual articulatory skills. In contrast, testosterone concentrations at five months negatively correlated with articulatory skills at the same age in both boys and girls. Our findings reinforce the assumption of the importance of sex hormones for auditory-vocal development towards language in human infants.
authors.affiliation: Center for Pre-speech Development and Developmental Disorders, Department of Orthodontics, University of Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quast
authors.affiliation: German Center for Growth, Development and Health Encouragement during Childhood and Youth, Children's Hospital Berlin-Lindenhof, Germany; Charité - University Medicine, Institute for Experimental Paediatric Endocrinology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hesse
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics (Statistics), University of Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hain
authors.affiliation: IT Center, University of Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wermke
authors.affiliation: Center for Pre-speech Development and Developmental Disorders, Department of Orthodontics, University of Wuerzburg, Germany. Electronic address: wermke_k@ukw.de.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wermke
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002663:Child Language; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D013739:Testosterone; D004958:Estradiol
keywords: Articulation; Babbling; Estradiol; Infant; Language development; Sex hormones; Testosterone