“Speak up!” An Examination of the Language Capacities of Children Displaying Various Forms of Social Withdrawal and Aggression

Abstract

"Speak Up!" An Examination of the Language Abilities of Children Displaying Various Forms of Social Withdrawal and Aggression Brandon Neil Clifford School of Family Life, BYU Master of Science Language serves as a mechanism through which children are able to interact and communicate with their others. Thus, when children do not produce language at a typical pace, there may be cause for concern. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine the language abilities of children displaying various forms of social withdrawal and children engaging in subtypes of aggression. Participants came from the Brigham Young University Child Laboratory (N = 141; Mage = 4.57; 53% female) and were observed and teachers and parents completed reports on children’s behaviors and demographics. Results revealed reticent and solitary-passive children to produce less language compared to their non-withdrawn peers and comorbid aggressive children to produce more language compared to their non-aggressive, physically aggressive and relationally aggressive peers. I then discuss contextual and conceptual factors that may play a role in understanding the relation between language production, social withdrawal and aggression.