Depressive symptoms and emotion regulation strategies in children with and without developmental language disorder: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms are common in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). However, risk and protective factors contributing to these problems are currently underspecified. AIMS: The current longitudinal study examined the role of emotion-regulation (ER) strategies in the severity of depressive symptoms in children with and without DLD, taking into account the severity of communication problems of children with DLD. METHODS & PROCEDURES: We followed clinically referred children with DLD (n = 114, 49% girls) and without DLD (n = 214, 58% girls) between the ages of 8 and 16 years across an 18-month period. Participants completed self-report questionnaires at three time points. Parents of children with DLD reported on their child's communication problems. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Multilevel analyses confirmed higher levels of depressive symptoms in youngsters with DLD compared with peers without DLD, with a decrease across time in the DLD group. In both groups, higher levels of approach and increasing avoidant strategies aimed at distraction or trivializing a problem explained lower depressive symptoms, whereas more worry and externalizing strategies contributed to more depressive symptoms. Within the DLD group, semantic language problems were associated with higher depressive symptoms. However, this relation was mediated by the tendency to worry or use externalizing strategies. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Results suggest that interventions for children with DLD should focus on enhancing their adaptive ER strategies to help them cope with daily stressors just as in the general population.

Friendship quality among autistic and non-autistic (pre-) adolescents: Protective or risk factor for mental health?

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic young people are often misunderstood by non-autistic young people, and this can lead to difficulties in their friendships. We know that friendship is very important for our mental health. For non-autistic young people, having good friendships is linked to better mental health and having problems in friendship can cause mental health problems. This study aimed to compare the positive and negative features of friendship that autistic non-autistic young people experience. The study also aimed to understand if having positive or negative friendship features is related to signs of mental health problems (anxiety and depression). 306 young people aged 9-16 took part in this study. These were 86 autistic boys, 18 autistic girls, 91 non-autistic boys and 111 non-autistic girls. The findings of this study showed that autistic young people have less positive friendship features than non-autistic young people. For all young people in the study, having more positive friendship features was related to fewer signs of depression, while having more negative friendship features was related to more signs of depression. Just for autistic girls, having more positive friendship features was related to more signs of anxiety. These findings show that support is needed to help autistic young people have more positive friendships. For example, by teaching non-autistic young people how to be supportive friends to their autistic peers.

The Association between Parent and Child-Report Measures of Alexithymia in Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder.

Accurate measures of alexithymia, an inability to recognise and describe one's own emotions, that are suitable for children are crucial for research into alexithymia's development. However, previous research suggests that parent versus child reports of alexithymia do not correlate. Potentially, children may report on the awareness of their emotions, whereas parent-report measures may reflect children's verbal expression of emotion, which may be confounded by children's communicative abilities, especially in conditions such as Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Given theoretical arguments that alexithymia may develop due to language impairments, further research into alexithymia in DLD is also needed. This project examined parent and child report measures of alexithymia in children with DLD (n = 106) and without DLD (n = 183), and their association to children's communication skills. Parent and child reports were not significantly correlated in either group, and children with DLD had higher alexithymia scores on the parent-report measure only. Thus, parent and child measures of alexithymia likely reflect different constructs. Pragmatic language problems related to more parent-reported alexithymia, over and above group membership. Structural language abilities were unrelated to alexithymia. We suggest decreased social learning opportunities, rather than a language measure artefact, underlie increased alexithymic difficulties in DLD.

Positive Aspects of Emotional Competence in Preventing Internalizing Symptoms in Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder: A Longitudinal Approach.

In order to better understand protective factors for internalizing problems, this longitudinal study examined positive emotions, emotion awareness and (non-)emotional communication skills in relation to somatic complaints and social anxiety in children with (N = 104) and without (N = 183) Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) using self-reported measures twice with a 9-month interval. Additionally, parents reported on their child's communication problems and emotion communication at Time 1. Most importantly, since we found that increasing levels of emotion awareness related to decreases in social anxiety and somatic complaints in children with and without DLD, we conclude that children with DLD are likely to benefit from interventions aimed at improving their emotion awareness in addition to language interventions.

Emotional Competence Mediates the Relationship between Communication Problems and Reactive Externalizing Problems in Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder: A Longitudinal Study.

Language problems are a risk factor for externalizing problems, but the developmental path remains unclear. Emotional competence may mediate the relationship, especially when externalizing problems are reactive in nature, such as in Oppositional Deviant Disorder (ODD) and reactive aggression. We examined the development of reactive and proactive externalizing problems in children with (n = 98) and without (n = 156) Developmental Language Disorder (DLD; age: 8-16 years) over 18 months. Relationships with communicative risk factors (structural, pragmatic and emotion communication) and the mediating role of emotional competence (emotion recognition and anger dysregulation) were examined. Multi-level analyses showed that increasing emotion recognition and decreasing anger dysregulation were longitudinally related to decreasing ODD symptoms in both groups, whereas anger dysregulation was related to more reactive aggression in children with DLD alone. Pragmatic and emotion communication problems were related to more reactive externalizing problems, but these relationships were mediated by emotional competence, suggesting that problems in emotional competence explain the communication problems of children with DLD. Therefore, in addition to interventions for communication skills, there is a need to address the emotional competence of children with DLD, as this decreases the risk for reactive externalizing problems.

Victimization, Bullying, and Emotional Competence: Longitudinal Associations in (Pre)Adolescents With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose: Victimization is a common problem for many children but is exacerbated for children with a developmental language disorder (DLD). However, the severity of communication problems does not explain their victimization rates. In children without DLD, difficulties with emotional competence are a risk factor for victimization and also increase the risk of bullying. In this longitudinal study, we examined the extent to which the level and development of emotional competence (understanding of one's own emotions and levels of anger, sadness, and fear) contributed to the prediction of victimization and bullying in children with and without DLD, over and above the type and severity of communication problems of children with DLD. Method: Clinically referred youngsters (8-16 years old) with (n = 112; 48% girls, 52% boys) and without (n = 233; 58% girls, 42% boys) DLD completed self-reports 3 times over an 18-month period. Parents of children with DLD reported on their children's communication problems. Results: Participants with DLD reported more victimization but comparable levels of bullying behavior compared with peers without DLD. Higher levels of sadness and fear were risk factors for more victimization in both groups. Better understanding of one's own emotions had a larger effect on less victimization in children with DLD, independent of their communication problems. In addition, increased levels of anger and lower levels of understanding of one's own emotions explained more bullying in both groups. Conclusion: Outcomes indicate that secondary difficulties in emotional competence in children with DLD make these children more vulnerable to victimization and warrant specific support and interventions.