Datasheet1_Poor written pragmatic skills are associated with internalising symptoms in childhood: evidence from a UK birth cohort study.docx

IntroductionThis study examined the relation between pragmatic language and internalising (depressive and anxiety) symptoms in 11-year-olds, using data from the 1958 British birth cohort study.MethodsThe cohort children were asked at age 11 to write an essay on their life as they imagined it would be at age 25. We analysed 200 of these essays for relevance, organisation and context-dependent references.ResultsWe found associations between these aspects of pragmatic language and children's internalising symptom scores across parent and teacher ratings, even after adjustment for cognitive ability, socioeconomic position and structural language. Most notably, children writing more coherent essays had fewer teacher-rated internalising symptoms, after adjustment for confounders. Additionally, children who provided more relevant and varied information about their imagined future home-lives had fewer parent-rated internalising symptoms, after adjustment for confounders.DiscussionThe unique associations between pragmatic language skills and internalising symptoms observed are notable but preliminary, highlighting both the need for further research and potential applications for risk-assessment tools.

引言本研究旨在探讨11岁儿童实用语言能力与内化症状（抑郁和焦虑）之间的关系，并利用1958年英国出生队列研究的数据进行分析。方法在11岁时，队列儿童被要求撰写一篇关于他们想象中25岁生活状况的论文。我们对其中200篇论文进行了相关性、组织结构和语境相关引用的分析。结果我们发现，在调整认知能力、社会经济地位和结构语言因素后，实用语言的这些方面与儿童的内化症状评分之间存在关联，尤其是在教师评价中。值得注意的是，撰写更为连贯论文的儿童在调整混杂因素后，教师评价的内化症状评分较低。此外，在调整混杂因素后，提供更多相关且多样化关于其想象中未来家庭生活信息的儿童，其父母评价的内化症状评分也较低。讨论观察到的实用语言技能与内化症状之间的独特关联虽引人注目，但尚处于初步阶段，这不仅凸显了进一步研究的必要性，也指出了风险评估工具的潜在应用价值。