Table 1.
Demographic Characteristics of Toddlers in the Full Study Sample and Language Subgroups
| Demographic characteristics | Full sample | Subsample, age 24–30 months | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late talkers | Not late talkers | ||
| Number of participants | 1,973 | 41 | 394 |
| Age in months (mean ± SD) | 23.1 ± 8.4 | 26.0 ± 1.9 | 27.0 ± 2.0 |
| Sex (% female) | 48.3% | 31.7%a | 47.2% |
| Family meets federal poverty criteria | 24.4% | 29.3%b | 24.1% |
| Race | |||
| Asian | 7.5% | 7.3% | 7.9% |
| Black/African American | 15.2% | 17.1% | 14.7% |
| Hispanic | 15.2% | 19.5% | 10.9% |
| Native American/Alaskan Native | 1.3% | 2.4% | 0.5% |
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | 0.9% | 0.0% | 0.8% |
| White/Caucasian | 56.9% | 53.7% | 61.2% |
| Other | 3.0% | 0.0% | 4.1% |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Hispanic/Latino | 20.3% | 26.8% | 15.5% |
| Not Hispanic/Latino | 79.7% | 73.2% | 84.5% |
Notes. Late talkers were defined as 24–30-months-olds with fewer than 50 words and no two-word utterances.
a
There was a marginally significant effect of more males in late talker group, χ2 = 3.60, Fisher’s exact test p = .07.
b
There was no significant difference between late talker vs. not late talker groups in terms of whether their family met poverty criteria, χ2 = 0.53, Fisher’s exact test p = .45.