| Abstract: |
Background: Adolescents with developmental language disorder (DLD) are known to be at increased risk for socio-emotional difficulties. Yet, there remains considerable uncertainty about how problems in language abilities, executive functioning (EF), and theory of mind (ToM) contribute to the socio-emotional difficulties observed in this group. In addition, only a limited number of studies have compared adolescents with and without DLD on these underlying cognitive and linguistic domains. Aims: This study examined (1) differences between adolescents with and without DLD in language, EF, ToM, and socio-emotional functioning, (2) associations among these domains, and (3) the unique contributions of language, EF, and ToM to socio-emotional functioning. Methods and Procedures: Forty adolescents with developmental language disorder (DLD) and 36 typically developing (TD) peers, matched for age and education level, completed measures of receptive vocabulary, visuospatial working memory (Corsi Block-Tapping Task), cognitive flexibility (Berg Card-Sorting Test), cognitive ToM (ToMotion task), and affective ToM (Emotion Recognition Task). Parents completed the IKAN questionnaire, which served as the measure of socio-emotional functioning. Group differences were assessed using independent-samples t-tests and Mann-Whitney U tests. Associations were examined using Spearman correlations. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with the IKAN total score as the outcome variable. Outcomes and Results: Adolescents with DLD scored significantly lower than their TD peers on receptive language, cognitive ToM, and socio-emotional functioning as measured by the IKAN. They showed significantly reduced scores on seven of the eight socio-emotional subscales. No significant group differences were found for visuospatial working memory, cognitive flexibility, or affective ToM. Receptive vocabulary correlated positively with cognitive flexibility, both ToM measures, and several IKAN subscales. Cognitive ToM showed consistent moderate associations with overall socio-emotional functioning. In the regression model, cognitive ToM was the only significant unique predictor of socio-emotional functioning (R[superscript 2] = 0.23). Conclusions and Implications: This study demonstrates that adolescents with DLD experience more difficulties in receptive language, cognitive ToM, and socio-emotional functioning compared to their TD peers. Moreover, cognitive ToM appears to be a key predictor of socio-emotional functioning across adolescents with and without DLD. Clinical and educational services should therefore extend support beyond language remediation and consider targeted interventions that strengthen cognitive ToM to improve socio-emotional adjustment. |