Predictive Validity and Factors of Direct and Indirect Language Screening Measures for Children Using Panel Data

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine whether language abilities, measured by examiners and parents, at age 2 significantly predict later language skills. In addition, this study investigated whether the results of two language screening tests were consistent and which factors affected the agreement of the two measures.Methods: This study analyzed data from 1,739 Korean children who participated in the 3rd (T1, age 2), 6th (T2, age 5), and 10th (T3, age 8) Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC). The Korean-Denver II test, the Korean-Ages and Stages Questionnaires (K-ASQ), the Receptive & Expressive Vocabulary Test (REVT), and the Multi-Factor Intelligence Test (M-FIT) were utilized to measure children’s language skills. To examine the predictive validity of the two language screening measures, a simple regression analysis was conducted. To investigate the factors affecting the agreement between the results of two measures, parental education level, parental style, knowledge of child development, and child temperament data were used.Results: Both the results of the Korean-Denver II test and K-ASQ at T1 significantly predicted children’s language skills at T2 and T3. It was also found that only parental style was significantly different between the groups classified by the agreement of the two language screening measures at T1.Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that both two language screening measures were valid tools for significantly predicting children’s later language skills. In addition, it was confirmed that the social interaction parental style was a factor affecting parents’ accurate evaluation of their children’s language skills.