Externalizing Symptoms, Parent–Child Relationship, and Psychiatric Comorbidities in Preschoolers with Language Disorder: Predictors of Parenting Stress
Abstract
Background: This study aimed to compare externalizing behaviors, parenting stress, and the quality of the parent–child relationship in children with language disorder (LD) and typically developing peers; to identify psychiatric comorbidi-ties, and to assess predictors of parenting stress in children with LD.
Methods: The study included 120 children aged 24 to 60 months and their caregiver(s). Parents completed the Aber-rant Behavior Checklist (ABC), the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF), and the Child–Parent Relationship Scale (C-PRS). Sociodemographic and clinical information was obtained through face-to-face interviews with caregiver(s). Di-agnoses of LD and comorbid psychiatric disorders were based on DSM-5 criteria.
Results: Children in the LD group showed delays in first words (p < 0.001) and first sentences (p < 0.001). Controlling for parental education, they had higher ABC scores (p = .001), especially Irritability (p = 0.002) and Hyperactivity (p < 0.001). CPRS scores were also elevated (p < 0.001) with greater conflict (p = 0.001), and parents reported higher PSI scores (p < 0.001), particularly in Parent–Child Dysfunctional Interaction (p < 0.001) and Difficult Child (p = 0.001).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that LD should be conceptualized as part of a broader developmental profile with significant behavioral and parental implications, rather than solely as a language impairment. Early, multidimensional interventions targeting child externalizing problems—particularly irritability—as well as parenting stress and the par-ent–child relationship are essential.
Keywords
language disorder, parenting stress, irritability, parent-child relationship, psychiatric comorbidity
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