Language, school functioning, and behavior among African American urban kindergartners

Significant relations among language impairments, academic difficulties, and behavioral problems have been well established in previous research, primarily with impaired children or non-minority samples. However, how and why these three developmental domains tend to co-vary has received only limited attention. Preliminary research suggests that academic deficiencies mediate the relation between language impairments and problem behavior. This study assessed 97 urban African American kindergarten children (mean age = 5.98, SD =.33) on measures of language impairment, school functioning, and behavior problems to examine potential processes linking these areas of functioning. Similar to previous research, all three factors correlated significantly with one another. Children with language problems were more likely to have problems with school functioning, and school functioning mediated the relation between language and behavior problems. Additionally, poor frustration tolerance moderated the relation between language impairment and behavior problems. Implications and limitations are discussed.