The Development of Risky Decision Making in Adolescents at Risk of Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose: Poor risky decision making (RDM) may lead to negative consequences across various aspects of daily life, especially during adolescence. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is associated with abnormality in the neural pathway responsible for RDM. However, there is little research that directly examines the development of RDM in the DLD population. The current study evaluated RDM in the DLD population and the general population from early to late adolescence. Methods: Data from the Millennium Cohort Study was used to examine RDM performance at ages 11, 14, and 17 in adolescents at risk of DLD (rDLD; N = 891) and their age-matched peers in the general population (GP) as a comparison group (N = 13372). The participant's performance in the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) and a monetary risk preference task were assessed. Results: The results indicated that adolescents at risk of DLD had a significantly higher tendency to take risks and poorer quality of decision making at age 11 and 14, as well as poorer adjustment to changes in risk at age 11. There were no significant between-group differences in risk adjustment at 14 or risk preference at 17 and no significant interaction between time and group differences in CGT measures from early to mid-adolescence. Conclusion: The results suggested that both groups showed similar trajectories in the development of RDM, implying that the development of RDM in the rDLD group is more likely delayed rather than impaired. The current study provides insights regarding the RDM abnormalities in the DLD population.