Does early child language predict internalizing symptoms in adolescence? An investigation in two birth cohorts born 30 years apart

Language is vital for social interaction leading some to suggest early language ability paves the way for good adolescent mental health (MH) in the general population. The relationship between age 5 language and adolescent internalizing symptoms was examined using the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS; N=11,640) and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS; N=14,754). In the BCS, no relationship between early receptive vocabulary and adolescent self-reported symptoms was observed. In the MCS, higher expressive vocabulary scores were associated with more self-reported symptoms. The direction of this effect reversed when parent-reported symptoms were considered. The relationship between early language and adolescent MH varies with generation and reporter. Early language ability does not straightforwardly protect adolescents from internalizing symptoms in the current generation.