Premature children are at greater risk for developing communication delays than full-term children, although it is not inevitable. Recent research links specific temperament characteristics to early language development. Thus, temperament may provide a way to identify premature children who are at increased risk. The first purpose of this study was to determine if temperament characteristics of premature children are the same as full-term children when measured by the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. The second purpose was to determine if temperament and language acquisition, as measured by the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures, are linked in premature infants and, if so, are the relationships similar to those of full-term populations. Participants included 19 children 8-12 months, chronological age. Results indicated that they exhibited similar temperament characteristics to full-term children. Additionally, temperament was linked to vocabulary comprehension and, unlike findings for full-term children, to expressive communication as well .
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-3452 |
| Date | 05 May 2007 |
| Creators | King, Nina |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright by the authors. |
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