Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2014

Publication Title

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

Volume

60

Issue

2

First Page

142

Last Page

167

Abstract

A body of empirical research has revealed that there are associations among language skills, peer interactions, and behavioral problems in childhood. At the same time, however, there has been comparatively less research devoted to exploring the mutual unfolding of these factors over the first few years of life. The current study is designed to partially address this gap in the literature by examining how language skills, negative peer interactions, and behavioral problems are interrelated in a sample of twins drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). Employing a quantitative genetic framework, the results of the current study revealed that variance in language skills, negative peer interactions, and externalizing behavioral problems were all due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Bivariate Cholesky models indicated that most of the covariance among language skills, negative peer interactions, and externalizing behavioral problems was due to common genetic factors. Additional analyses using a modified DeFries–Fulker approach

Comments

Copyright © 2014 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI 48201.

This is a final version of an article accepted for publication in (Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, volume 60, issue number 2, 2014) following peer review. The journal homepage, available from Wayne State University Press, may be found here: https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/journals/detail/merrill-palmer-quarterly.

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