This retrospective study provides insights on linguistic development in exceptional circumstances assessing 378 children (between 2;6 and 3;6) who lived their first years during the COVID-19 pandemic and comparing it with normative data collected before this period (CDI-III-PT; Cadime et al., 2021). It investigates the extent to which linguistic development was modulated by a complex set of factors, including sex, maternal education, book reading, language-promoting practices, COVID-19 infection, parental stress and sleeping problems, considering three periods (during lockdowns, out of lockdowns and at present). The results show a substantial negative effect of the pandemic on both lexical and syntactic development. Considering individual variation, structural equation modelling unveiled a complex scenario in which age, sex, book reading, language-promoting practices, sleeping problems and COVID-19 infection showed a direct effect on linguistic development. Maternal education and parental stress had an indirect effect on children’s language, mediated by book reading and sleeping problems, respectively.

中文翻译：

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在大流行中度过最初的几年：儿童的语言发展以及 COVID-19 封锁前后的相关因素


这项回顾性研究提供了关于特殊情况下语言发展的见解，评估了 378 名儿童（2 名儿童;6 和 3;6） 在 COVID-19 大流行期间生活的最初几年，并将其与在此期间之前收集的规范数据 （CDI-III-PT;Cadime et al.， 2021）。它研究了语言发展在多大程度上受到一系列复杂因素的调节，包括性别、母亲教育、读书、语言推广做法、COVID-19 感染、父母压力和睡眠问题，考虑了三个时期（封锁期间、封锁外和目前）。结果显示，大流行对词汇和句法发展都有很大的负面影响。考虑到个体差异，结构方程模型揭示了一个复杂的场景，其中年龄、性别、读书、语言推广实践、睡眠问题和 COVID-19 感染对语言发展有直接影响。母亲教育和父母压力对儿童的语言有间接影响，分别由读书和睡眠问题介导。