Abstract
Research on adolescent wellbeing in Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) has previously been examined through measures of parent (proxy) or self-reported wellbeing, but never has a study included both and enabled comparison between the two. The current study reports parent and self rated wellbeing of adolescents with DLD and Low Language (LL) ability, as well as their typically developing (TD) peers. It also examines consistency between raters and factors influencing correspondence. Adolescents aged 10–11 with DLD (n = 30), LL (n = 29) or TD (n = 48) were recruited from eight UK primary schools. A battery of standardized language, psychosocial and wellbeing assessments, including the KIDSCREEN-27 were administered. Adolescent ratings of wellbeing were similar across groups on three of the five wellbeing dimensions, but those with DLD had lower self-reported Autonomy and Parental Relations than their TD peers, and both the DLD and LL group had lower School Environment scores than their TD peers. By parental report, the DLD and LL group were considered to have lower wellbeing on all five wellbeing dimensions relative to their TD peers. Paired sample t-test analyses indicated a high level of variance between parent and adolescent reported wellbeing for multiple wellbeing domains, especially Psychological Wellbeing. Importantly, predictors of the level of agreement between parent and adolescent reported psychological wellbeing differed between groups: cognitive reappraisal and sociability predicted this level of agreement for adolescents with LL, while social competence predicted agreement in DLD and TD. This study emphasizes the necessity of allowing adolescents of all language abilities to report their own wellbeing, as their perspective does not align with that of their parents. It also highlights the importance of including the full spectrum of need when investigating the impact of language ability on consistency between proxy and self-reported wellbeing.
Highlights
There has been a recent surge of interest in adolescent wellbeing; partly due to a recognition that health goes beyond physical aspects (Statham and Chase, 2010) and because of links between increased wellbeing and heightened intra-personal functioning and social cohesion (Hatch et al, 2007; Aminzadeh et al, 2013; Ding et al, 2015; Conti-Ramsden et al, 2016)
Wellbeing as measured by self reported and proxy reported KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaires were explored by group
This study contributes to the limited extant body of work by providing both adolescent and parent reported wellbeing in a sample of adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), adolescents with Low Language (LL), and their typically developing (TD) peers
Summary
There has been a recent surge of interest in adolescent wellbeing; partly due to a recognition that health goes beyond physical aspects (Statham and Chase, 2010) and because of links between increased wellbeing and heightened intra-personal functioning and social cohesion (Hatch et al, 2007; Aminzadeh et al, 2013; Ding et al, 2015; Conti-Ramsden et al, 2016). The current study aimed to examine consistency between parent and adolescent ratings of wellbeing, and factors influencing correspondence, for adolescents with DLD, adolescents with Low Language (LL) Ability, and their Typically Developing (TD peers). Wellbeing is multifaceted (Black et al, 2019), and includes emotional (happiness, confidence, non-depressive symptomatology), psychological (autonomy, problem solving, resilience, attentiveness), and social (positive interpersonal relationships, absence of conduct disorder) aspects. This multifarious construct is difficult to define and measure (Axford, 2009; Morrow and Mayall, 2009). The current study allows for the different dimensions of wellbeing by employing the KIDSCREEN-27 (The KIDSCREEN Group Europe, 2006), enabling Physical Wellbeing, Psychological Wellbeing, Autonomy and Parent Relations, Social Support and Peers, and School Environment to be measured
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