The influence of auditory short-term memory on behavior problem development

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the influence of two subcomponents of auditory short-term memory on the developmental trajectories of behavior problems. The sample included 7,058 children from the NLSY79 -Children and Young Adult survey between the ages 5 and 14 years. Results suggested that anxious/depressed behavior increases during childhood and hyperactive and antisocial behavior problems decrease over the course of childhood. Children who scored higher on the Digit Span Backwards test demonstrated lower initial anxious/depressed, antisocial, and hyperactive behaviors, and children who scored higher on the Digit Span Forwards test demonstrated lower initial hyperactive behaviors. Some effects varied by sex; boys who scored higher on the Digit Span Forwards test decreased in antisocial behaviors at a slower rate than those who scored lower on the test. Thus, short-term memory associated with rehearsal mechanisms appears to influence initial levels of various problem behaviors for both males and females, while storage capacity influences initial hyperactive behavior for both males and females and the course of antisocial behavior in males.