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This study examines the dimensionality of and relationships between two subscales from the British Ability Scales – Third Edition, measuring verbal (expressive vocabulary) and non-verbal (reasoning) cognitive skills for toddlers (age three) and preschoolers (age five), in a Norwegian context across genders. Descriptive statistics revealed item selection criteria that included specific items within each subscale. Subsequently, Confirmatory Factor Analysis established the subscales’ dimensionality (Naming Vocabulary and Picture Similarities; N = 1094) and confirmed measurement invariance across genders. Further, the relationships between the verbal and non-verbal factors were investigated using correlation analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. The findings revealed that the verbal factor at age three strongly predicted the verbal factor at age five and significantly influenced the non-verbal factor at age five. The non-verbal factor at age three exhibited a moderate predictive relationship with the non-verbal factor at age five, and did not significantly predict the verbal factor at age five. In terms of gender differences, girls showed higher scores on the verbal factor at age three, and a stronger correlation between the non-verbal factor at age three and the verbal factor at age five. In summary, this research provides valuable insights into cognitive skill measurement and development in a Norwegian context and highlights possible variations across gender. The study’s findings, limitations, and implications are discussed.

Purpose: This longitudinal study examined the contribution of preschool morphological awareness to word reading skills and reading comprehension, as well as to the developmental change of reading ability beyond other well-established oral language and cognitive predictors. A distinction was made between the domains of inflectional and derivational morphology. Method: Two hundred and fifty-nine Norwegian-speaking children (46% female) with a mean age of 5.5 years were assessed in preschool on language measures and again in Grades 1 and 3 on measures of word reading accuracy and fluency and in Grades 3 and 4 on reading comprehension. We fit latent change score models with preschool predictors using parceling to control for measurement error. Results: We found a unique contribution of preschool morphological awareness to reading comprehension in Grade 3, but no unique contribution to Grade 1 decoding. Neither awareness of inflections nor awareness of derivations predicted developmental change in word reading fluency between Grades 1 and 3 or change in reading comprehension between Grades 3 and 4 beyond the effect of control variables. Conclusion: Our findings confirm the relevance of morphological awareness only for early attainment in reading comprehension and highlight the importance of accounting for measurement error in studying associations among variables aiming to discover specific contributions.