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
Recommended Citation
Beaver, Kevin M.; Boutwell, Brian B.; Barnes, J. C.; Schwartz, Joesph A.; and Connolly, Eric J., "A Quantitative Genetic Analysis of the Associations Among Language Skills, Peer Interactions, and Behavioral Problems in Childhood: Results From a Sample of Twins" (2014). Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications. 78.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/criminaljusticefacpub/78
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.