The Effects of Infants\' Temperament on Early Vocabulary Acquisition at 18 and 24 Months
AUTHOR : 장유경,이근영,최유리,이순목
INFORMATION : page. 23~42 / 2007 Vol.14 No.3
ABSTRACT
This study examined the relationship between children\'s temperament and their early vocabulary acquisition. Mothers of 279 toddlers completed the Toddler Temperament Scale (TTQ: Fullard, McDevit, & Carey, 1984) and a vocabulary checklist (Pae, 2002) at both 18 and 24 months. At 18 months, only mood was associated with vocabulary acquisition. However, mood, adaptability, and activity were associated with vocabulary acquisition at 24 months. More specifically, infants who were rated as having a positive mood, being easily adaptable and having a low activity level tended to acquire more expressive words at 24 months. Also, the cross-lagged relations between 18 and 24 months revealed that infants with high response intensity acquired more predicates and function words. Finally, infants with more nouns, predicates, or functional words at 18 months were rated as having a more positive mood at 24 months. The results suggest that different components of temperament may influence different stages of vocabulary acquisition and that the direction of influence between temperament and vocabulary acquisition might be bi-directional during this short period.