posted on 2015-06-01, 00:00authored byJarrad A. G. Lum, Martine Powell, Lydia Timms, Pamela Snow
Purpose In this review article, meta-analysis was used to summarize research investigating language skills in maltreated children.
Method A systematic search of published studies was undertaken. Studies were included in the meta-analysis if they investigated language skills in groups comprising maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Studies were selected if these 2 groups of children were of comparable age and from a similar socioeconomic background.
Results A total of 26 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Results from the meta-analysis showed that maltreated children demonstrated consistently poorer language skills with respect to receptive vocabulary (k = 19; standardized mean difference [SMD] = .463; 95% confidence interval [CI; .293, .634]; p < .001), expressive language (k = 4; SMD =.860; 95% CI [.557, 1.163]; p < .001), and receptive language (k = 9; SMD =.528; 95% CI [.220, .837]; p < .001).
Conclusion Together, these results indicate a reliable association between child maltreatment and poor language skills.
Funding
This research was supported by the Australian Research Council (Grant DP1095509). We thank Gillian Clark and Bronwen Manger for their assistance with collecting and reviewing articles for this article.