title: Language development in rural and urban Russian-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder.
abstract: Using a newly developed Assessment of the Development of Russian Language (ORRIA), we investigated differences in language development between rural vs. urban Russian-speaking children (n = 100 with a mean age of 6.75) subdivided into groups with and without developmental language disorders. Using classical test theory and item response theory approaches, we found that while ORRIA displayed overall satisfactory psychometric properties, several of its items showed differential item functioning favoring rural children, and several others favoring urban children. After the removal of these items, rural children significantly underperformed on ORRIA compared to urban children. The urbanization factor did not significantly interact with language group. We discuss the latter finding in the context of the multiple additive risk factors for language development and emphasize the need for future studies of the mechanisms that underlie these influences and the implications of these findings for our understanding of the etiological architecture of children's language development.
authors.affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA; Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia; Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Sergey A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kornilov
authors.affiliation: City Center for Psychological, Medical, and Social Services, Moscow, Russia; Moscow City University for Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Tatiana V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Lebedeva
authors.affiliation: Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Marina A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Zhukova
authors.affiliation: Moscow City University for Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Natalia A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Prikhoda
authors.affiliation: Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Irina V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Korotaeva
authors.affiliation: UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Roman A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Koposov
authors.affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jodi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA; Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia; Moscow City University for Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Elena L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Grigorenko
keywords: Assessment; Developmental language disorder; Differential item functioning; Language development; Rural; Socio-economic status; Specific language impairment