Abstract
This study investigated the role of temperament in oral language development in over 200 Mandarin and Cantonese speakers in the Growing Up in New Zealand pre-birth longitudinal cohort study. Mothers assessed infant temperament at nine months using a five-factor Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form. They also reported on children’s vocabulary and word combinations at age two using adapted MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory short forms. Regression analyses were employed to examine unique links between infant temperament and language, respectively, controlling for demographic factors. Fear was associated with larger English vocabularies for English-Mandarin speakers and larger Cantonese vocabularies for Cantonese speakers. Orienting capacity was associated with more advanced word combinations for Mandarin speakers, whereas negative emotionality was associated with less advanced word combinations for Cantonese speakers. Positive affect/surgency was associated with more advanced word combinations for English-Cantonese speakers. This study revealed predictive patterns of infant temperament across Chinese-speaking children’s multiple languages.
“在新西兰成长 (Growing Up in New Zealand )”出生前纵向研究中,本研究探讨了在200多名普通话和粤语使用者中气质在口语发展中的作用。母亲们使用五因素婴儿气质量表超短表(修订版)评估了9个月婴儿的气质。通过使用改编的麦克阿瑟-贝茨交际发展量表 (简表),母亲们又报告了两岁儿童的词汇量和词语组合情况。本研究采用回归分析,同时控制人口统计学变量,分别考察婴儿气质与语言之间的独特联系。本研究发现,对于说英语-普通话双语的儿童,恐惧倾向与较大的英语词汇量相关;对于说粤语的儿童,恐惧则倾向与较大的粤语词汇量相关。对于说普通话的儿童,注意力定向能力与较强的词语组合能力相关;而对于说粤语的儿童,负面情绪则与较弱的词语组合能力相关。对于说英语-粤语双语的儿童,积极情感和活力特质与较强的词语组合能力相关。本研究揭示了婴儿气质在使用中文(普通话和粤语)的儿童多语言发展中的预测模式。