# Evaluating Cascading Effects of Caregiver Stress on Later Language Outcomes of Infants

> **NIH NIH F31** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $34,295

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Understanding individual differences in language comprehension and use in autism is a top priority of autism
research, as acquisition of language early in life is consistently linked with long-term social, academic, and
vocational outcomes in individuals on the autism spectrum. However, studying language of infants and young
children who will later be diagnosed with autism is difficult due to the challenges of reliably diagnosing autism
in the first 3 years of life, when expressive language develops rapidly. Studying infants who are known to be at
increased familial likelihood for autism and language disorder (e.g., based on their status as younger siblings
of at least one older autistic child) allows researchers to better understand what factors may predict expressive
language in infants who are likely to go on to have autism and/or developmental language disorder. Recent
work focused on this population has investigated what caregiver factors influence language development, as
caregivers are infants’ primary communication partners and help to scaffold language development by
providing linguistic input and facilitating contingent transactions. One such factor is caregiver stress, as
caregivers of autistic children report experiencing high levels of stress. In previous work, PI Markfeld found
preliminary support for a model whereby perceived, parenting-related stress was indirectly associated with
expressive language in toddlerhood via caregiver linguistic input in the home environment in a sample of
infants at increased likelihood for autism. The current project will extend the applicant’s prior work in multiple
ways. Aim 1 will expand the characterization and measurement of caregiver stress by collecting a measure of
stressful life experiences (i.e., objective stressors) in infants at increased familial likelihood for autism. Aim 2
will examine associations between perceived and objective caregiver stress, caregiver linguistic input, and
child language outcomes later into childhood (i.e., at age 3 years) in infants at increased familial likelihood for
autism. Aim 3 will assess whether this model of how caregiver stress influences child language outcomes may
generalize to a larger sample of infants recruited from the general population. It is hypothesized that caregivers
of infants at high likelihood for autism will report higher levels of perceived and objective stress relative to
caregivers of infants at lower likelihood for autism, but that the conceptual model whereby caregiver stress
influences child expressive language via caregiver linguistic input will hold for all caregivers and infants. The
comprehensive training plan will advance PI Markfeld’s skills in measurement of caregiver stress and child
language, characterization of autism and language disorders, and application of advanced approaches to
statistical analyses. If the hypotheses are borne out, this work has the potential to pinpoint novel targets for
early interve...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11071754
- **Project number:** 1F31DC022173-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer E Markfeld
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $34,295
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11071754

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11071754, Evaluating Cascading Effects of Caregiver Stress on Later Language Outcomes of Infants (1F31DC022173-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11071754. Licensed CC0.

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