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. 2023 Dec;76(12):2732-2748.
doi: 10.1177/17470218231158069. Epub 2023 Mar 22.

The role of language in mental health during the transition from primary to secondary education

Maria Barbara Jelen  1 , Sarah Louise Griffiths  1 , Laura Lucas  1 , Jo Saul  1 , Courtenay F Norbury  1   2
Affiliations

The role of language in mental health during the transition from primary to secondary education

Maria Barbara Jelen et al. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2023 Dec.

Abstract

We report a preregistered analysis to test whether children meeting diagnostic criteria for language disorder (LD) have higher self-reported and/or parent-reported mental health symptoms during the transition from primary to secondary education. Data are from a UK-based longitudinal cohort study, The Surrey Communication and Language in Education Study (SCALES). SCALES oversampled children at risk of LD at school entry. Language was measured using a battery of standardised assessments in Year 1 (age 5-6 years, n = 529), and mental health symptoms were measured using self and parent report in Year 6 (age 10-11 years, n = 384) and Year 8 (age 12-13 years, n = 246). Social experiences were also measured using self-report measures in Year 6. Mental health symptoms were stable during the transition from primary to secondary school. Symptom rates did not differ between children with and without LD based on self-report, but children with LD had higher parent-reported mental health symptoms than their peers with typical language. Similarly, early language was negatively associated with parent-reported but not self-reported mental health symptoms. Early language was associated with fewer child-reported positive social experiences in Year 6, but social experiences did not mediate the association between language and mental health. We found poor agreement between parent and self-reported child mental health symptoms across language groups. Future studies should aim to determine sources of disagreement between parent and child report, particularly for children with communication difficulties who may struggle to accurately self-report mental health symptoms.

Keywords: Language; language disorder; longitudinal; mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Diagrammatic representation of SEM analysis model.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Anxiety (top) and depression (bottom) scores in Year 6 and Year 8, for participants with language disorder versus typical language development, parent and child report. Maximum RCADS-25 score was 75, where a score of 65 or above indicates borderline or clinical threshold.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Visual representation of parent-reported depression SEM model.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Visual representation of parent-reported anxiety SEM model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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