Developmental Language Risk and Social and Behavioral Functioning in Bilingual Latinx Adolescents

This study examines the relationship between language development risks and social and behavioral functioning, specifically externalizing problems (EPs), internalizing problems (IPs), and social competence (SC), among bilingual Latinx youth.

We used a community-based sample of 129 bilingual Latinx youth and their caregivers from a large urban city in the U.S. South. Participants completed standardized parent- and child-report measures in Spanish and English to assess developmental language disorder (DLD) risk and social and behavioral concerns (SBCs), and children completed assessments of their narrative skills in English and Spanish. Fisher's exact tests were used to assess differences in SBC identification and bootstrap tests to examine differences in SBC scores between youth with and without DLD risks. Multiple regression analyses were employed to explore the association of children's narrative skills in each language with SBCs, controlling for key demographics.

Youth with DLD risk were more likely to have clinically significant IP, based on Youth Self-Report. Youth at risk of DLD reported higher levels of IP in both parent- and self-reports, but there were no significant differences for EP and SC. Regression analyses revealed low but statistically significant associations between Spanish narrative skills and lower parent-reported SC and low but statistically significant English narrative skills and higher self-reported SC.

Bilingual Latinx youth with DLD may experience IP across multiple settings, making self-reports more sensitive to capturing the relations between IP and DLD risks. Oral narration skills showed small but significant associations with SC, suggesting a potential role in social functioning. These findings highlight the importance of including community-based samples to understand better the diverse experiences of youth that might not be represented in clinical settings.