Children's vocabulary ability at school entry is highly variable and predictive of later language and literacy outcomes. Sleep is potentially useful in understanding and explaining that variability, with sleep patterns being predictive of global trajectories of language acquisition. Here, we looked to replicate and extend these findings. Data from 354 children (without English as an additional language) in the Born in Bradford study were analysed, describing the mean intercepts and linear trends in parent-reported day-time and night-time sleep duration over five time points between 6 and 36 months-of-age. The mean difference between night-time and day-time sleep was predictive of receptive vocabulary at age five, with more night-time sleep relative to day-time sleep predicting better language. An exploratory analysis suggested that socioeconomic status was predictive of vocabulary outcomes, with sleep patterns partially mediating this relationship. We suggest that the consolidation of sleep patterns acts as a driver of early language development.

中文翻译：

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早期睡眠模式的成熟是否可以预测入学时的语言能力？出生在布拉德福德的研究

儿童在入学时的词汇能力是高度可变的，并且可以预测以后的语言和识字结果。睡眠可能有助于理解和解释这种可变性，睡眠模式可以预测语言习得的全球轨迹。在这里，我们希望复制和扩展这些发现。分析了 Born in Bradford 研究中来自 354 名儿童（没有英语作为附加语言）的数据，描述了父母报告的 6 至 36 个月之间五个时间点的白天和夜间睡眠时间的平均截距和线性趋势-年龄。夜间和白天睡眠之间的平均差异可以预测 5 岁时的接受性词汇，相对于白天睡眠而言，夜间睡眠更多预示着更好的语言。一项探索性分析表明，社会经济地位可以预测词汇结果，而睡眠模式部分地调节了这种关系。我们建议睡眠模式的巩固是早期语言发展的驱动力。