BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS AND LANGUAGE ABILITIES AT THREE YEARS AND BEHAVIOURAL DEVIANCE AT EIGHT YEARS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A representative sample of 535 children were followed up from their 3rd-8th birthday using measures of language ability and behavior. At age 8 yr there were significantly more boys with behavioral deviance than girls, and children from manual social class backgrounds also showed more behavioral deviance. The only difference between the immigrant and non-immigrant children was a less frequent occurrence of neurotic deviance in the immigrant group. Behavior problems at age 3 yr were strongly related to behavioral deviance at school at age 8 yr, particularly for boys. This medium-term stability in behavior problems was not found in previous studies looking at younger children. A low score on a measure of language structure at age 3 yr was related to a high rate of neurotic deviance at age 8 yr even when behavior at age 3 yr was controlled. The implications of these findings for the early identification and intervention with children at risk for later behavior deviance are discussed.

This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit: