Associations of language barriers with very preterm children's behavioural and socio-emotional problems across Europe
Julia Jaekel1,2,3,4,5,6, Adrien M Aubert7, Nils Jaekel8,9,10
1Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. julia.jaekel@oulu.fi.
Insights
Language barriers significantly impact the behavioral and emotional development of very preterm immigrant children in Europe. Greater linguistic distance between a child
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Public Health
- Sociolinguistics
Background:
- Very preterm birth (VP), immigrant status, and language barriers are known risk factors for childhood mental health issues.
- Limited research exists on the long-term development of immigrant children born very preterm.
- This study investigates the impact of immigrant background and linguistic distance on VP children's development in the EU.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the association between immigrant background, linguistic distance, and behavioral/socio-emotional problems in 5-year-old children born very preterm.
- To understand the role of language barriers in the development of very preterm immigrant children across diverse European language contexts.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a population-based cohort of 3,067 very preterm births across 11 European countries (2011/12).
- Children were followed up at 2 and 5 years of age.
- Parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) assessed behavioral and socio-emotional difficulties.
Main Results:
- A significant association was found between greater linguistic distance (child's L1 to host country language) and higher SDQ total scores.
- This association persisted after adjusting for social, biological, and perinatal factors.
- The findings highlight the quantifiable impact of language barriers on child development.
Conclusions:
- Linguistic distance between a child's mother tongue and the host country's language is a critical factor in the behavioral and socio-emotional development of very preterm immigrant children.
- Language barriers represent a systemic inequality faced by this vulnerable population.
- Policy and practice must address language barriers to promote health and educational equity for immigrant children born very preterm.
Background:
Very preterm birth (<32 weeks gestation, VP), immigrant background, and language barriers are all independently associated with a high risk for mental health problems in childhood, but research has neglected the long-term development of immigrant children born VP. We assessed whether behavioural and socio-emotional problems of 5-year-old children born VP growing up across different language contexts in the European Union are associated with an immigrant background and linguistic distance of families' mother tongue (L1) to the host countries' official languages.
Methods:
Data are from a population-based cohort including all VP births in 2011/12 in 11 European countries; a total of 3,067 children were followed up at 2 and 5 years of age. Behavioural and socio-emotional difficulties were assessed using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
Results:
Mixed-effects models showed that a larger linguistic distance of children's L1 to the host countries' official language was associated with higher SDQ total scores (0.02 [0.01, 0.03]), after adjusting for a wide range of social risks, biological, and perinatal clinical factors.
Conclusion:
Language barriers in the form of linguistic distance between VP children's L1 and countries' official languages play a critically important role for the behavioural and socio-emotional development of immigrant children born VP.
Impact:
Immigrant children born very preterm across Europe face systemic inequalities such as language barriers. Language barriers can be operationalised as a continuous linguistic distance score between children's mother tongues and countries' official languages. Linguistic distance plays an important role for the behavioural and socio-emotional development of immigrant children born VP. Research, policy, and practice need to better account for language barriers to increase equity in health and education.
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