De mediërende rol van moving bids op de relatie tussen lopen en taal bij kinderen tussen de 11 en 15 maanden.

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates the relation between the motor milestone independent walking and receptive vocabulary, with a possible mediating factor moving bids, by children aged 11-15 months. This study also investigates possible gender differences in the variables. The first hypothesis is that the relationship between independent walking and receptive vocabulary is mediated by moving bids. The second hypothesis is that gender differences will only be found in receptive vocabulary. Method: The participants were 20 children aged 11 to 15 months. Two questionnaires were filled in by their parents in order to measure the children’s vocabulary and to determine whether or not the children have achieved the ability of independent walking. To measure the amount of moving bids, the children were observed while playing with a parent. The hypotheses were tested by a hierarchical regression analysis, a MANOVA and a Fisher’s exact test. Results: There is no significant relation found between independent walking and receptive vocabulary, and between independent walking, receptive vocabulary and moving bids. There were also no differences found in the variables between boys and girls. Conclusion: In this study, no results were found for the mediating role of moving bids within the relation between independent walking and receptive vocabulary. No gender differences were found in the 3 variables. An explanation why no significant results were found is the small sample size. Further research should focus on a larger sample.