The effects of child maltreatment on language development

Abstract

The separate effects of child neglect, abuse, and their interaction upon language development as measured by the Preschool Language Scale were examined in four groups of children ( n = 79) in a quasi-experimental design. There were three groups of maltreated subjects, all drawn from a treatment center: an abused only group ( n = 13), a neglected only group ( n = 7), and an abused and neglected group ( n = 31); a non-maltreated group ( n = 28) was drawn from a day care center. Abuse, neglect, and their interaction were used to predict both auditory comprehension and verbal ability as separate criteria in two stepwise multiple regression equations, where the variance attributable to gender and mother's status on Aid to Dependent Children had been removed. Child neglect was found to predict significantly both auditory comprehension and verbal ability. Neither child abuse nor the interaction between abuse and neglect significantly predicted either dependent variable. These findings suggest that child neglect may be the critical type of maltreatment associated with language delay.