{"title":"Mother-child and father-child “serve and return” interactions at 9 months: Associations with children’s language skills at 18 and 24 months","authors":"Yu Chen , Natasha J. Cabrera , Stephanie M. Reich","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101894","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101894","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Infants learn language through the back-and-forth interactions with their parents where they “serve” by uttering sounds, gesturing, or looking and parents “return” in prompt (i.e., close in time) and meaningful (i.e., semantically relevant to the object of interest) ways. In a sample of 9-month-old infants (n = 148) and their mothers and fathers (n = 296 parents) from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds, we examined the associations between “serve and return” (SR) parent-child interactions and children’s language skills at 18 and 24 months. We also examined the moderation effects between maternal and paternal SR interactions on language outcomes. SR interactions were transcribed and coded from videotaped parent-child toy play activities during home visits. We report three findings. First, mothers who provided more meaningful responses to their child’s serves at 9 months had children with higher expressive language scores at 18 months. Second, fathers’ prompt responses (i.e., within 3 s) at 9 months were associated with higher receptive language scores at 18 months, but their meaningful responses were negatively associated with receptive language scores at 24 months. Third, the negative association between fathers’ meaningful responses and children’s receptive language scores was reduced (compensated) when mothers’ meaningful responses were high. Findings show that infants in ethnically and socioeconomically diverse families engage in frequent SR interactions with both mothers and fathers, who make unique contributions to infants’ language development. We discuss implications for programs and policies that aim to promote early language development and reduce gaps in school readiness.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49695463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cláudia Ramos , Alfredo F. Pereira , Amber Feher , Joana Baptista
{"title":"How does sensitivity influence early executive function? A critical review on hot and cool processes","authors":"Cláudia Ramos , Alfredo F. Pereira , Amber Feher , Joana Baptista","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101895","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101895","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>There is compelling evidence that the quality of caregiver-child interactions during toddlerhood and the preschool years supports the development of executive function (EF) (Bernier et al., 2010; 2015; 2016; <span>Fay-Stammbach et al., 2014</span>; Geeraerts et al., 2021). Based on such findings, we make the case herein that sensitivity may be one of the most important dimensions of parenting contributing to early EF. In the present article, we will review empirical evidence, integrating findings from a wide range of scientific disciplines – cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and developmental psychopathology – and present theoretical ideas about how two contexts of sensitive caregiving – i.e. sensitivity to distress and non-distress cues - may be contributing differently to hot and cool EF development. Implications for future investigations on the environmental contributors of early EF, and its mechanisms, are discussed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49686611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Christine Stuart , Sandra R. Gufler , Anne Tharner , Mette Skovgaard Væver
{"title":"Story stems in early mother-infant interaction promote pretend play at 30 months","authors":"Anne Christine Stuart , Sandra R. Gufler , Anne Tharner , Mette Skovgaard Væver","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101893","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101893","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>During early childhood, play develops through levels of sensory exploration and manipulation, to functional activities and during the second year of life to the level of pretend and symbolic play. However, little is known about the factors contributing to individual variations in the development of play. The present study investigated associations between maternal sensitivity and play conditions with different ways of engaging and participating and children’s development of pretend play. Participants were 64 primiparous mothers and their 30-months-old children. Sensitivity was assessed using the Coding Interactive Behavior (CIB) coding system, and children’s play was coded using the 12 Step Play Scale. Analyses showed no significant associations between sensitivity and children’s play development but a play condition introducing a story stem was associated with a higher developmental play level and longer duration of pretend play compared to free interactive play. The findings suggest that the use of a story stem may promote pretend play in interactive settings with the mother.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41242593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G. Ballarotto , L. Murray , L. Bozicevic , E. Marzilli , L. Cerniglia , S. Cimino , R. Tambelli
{"title":"Parental sensitivity to toddler’s need for autonomy: An empirical study on mother-toddler and father-toddler interactions during feeding and play","authors":"G. Ballarotto , L. Murray , L. Bozicevic , E. Marzilli , L. Cerniglia , S. Cimino , R. Tambelli","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101892","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101892","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>During the second year of life, children's need for autonomy grows, and their behaviors become increasingly complex. Parental sensitivity to children’s different cues is important in supporting adaptive psycho-emotional development. The present study assumes that mothers and fathers may respond with varying levels of sensitivity to the child’s different cues, with particular attention to requests for greater autonomy. The study also examines the possible role played by interactive contexts (ie., play and feeding) and children’s and parents’ individual factors. The sample comprised N = 91 families with children aged between 12 and 24 months. Mother-toddler and father-toddler interactions were assessed during feeding and play. Parents completed questionnaires assessing children’s temperament, psychopathological risk, and parenting stress.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>showed that toddlers’ demands for autonomy were the most frequent cues in both play and feeding contexts, both with mothers and fathers. Furthermore, parents were more sensitive to toddlers’ requests for cooperation than their requests for autonomy, in both interactive contexts. Moreover, mothers and fathers showed higher sensitivity to toddlers’ demands for greater autonomy in the play context rather than in the feeding context. Mothers were more sensitive than fathers to toddlers’ cues of resistance to parents’ actions and to toddlers’ requests for cooperation. Results showed differences and specificities in mother-toddler and father-toddler interactions in the two interactive contexts, showing associations between child negative emotionality, parental psychopathological risk and parenting stress, and maternal and paternal sensitivity to toddlers’ demands for greater autonomy during play and feeding, respectively. These results confirm the initial hypotheses regarding parental sensitivity and its differential expression according to child cues. Implications are discussed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41242592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marissa F. Mulvey, Janette E. Herbers, Kristin J. Jennings, Rahma Goran, Abigail C. Knight
{"title":"Infant fearful distress, parent intrusiveness, and adversity in families experiencing homelessness","authors":"Marissa F. Mulvey, Janette E. Herbers, Kristin J. Jennings, Rahma Goran, Abigail C. Knight","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101891","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101891","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Infants experiencing homelessness face risk for developing mental health<span> problems in the future. Parents residing in shelters experience adverse events at elevated rates compared to non-homeless individuals, which can impact their infants during a time of rapid development depending on how the parent copes. For some, trauma linked to these events may manifest in an intrusive parenting style that interferes with the child’s developing capacity for self-regulation. We utilized a sample of 60 parent-infant dyads recruited while residing in emergency homeless shelters to evaluate associations among parents’ history of adversity, intrusive parenting behaviors, and infants’ fearful distress. Observed parent intrusiveness during a free play interaction was significantly associated with infant fearfulness observed in a separate behavioral task during which infants viewed a series of masks. Furthermore, there was a moderating effect for parent history of adversity such that the association between parent intrusiveness and infant fearful distress was stronger among parents with more past experiences of adversity.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41224013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Socioeconomic resources moderate the relationship between maternal prenatal obsessive-compulsive symptoms and infant negative affectivity","authors":"Jason M. Gibbs , Nicki L. Aubuchon-Endsley","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101889","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101889","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Perinatal maternal depression, anxiety, and stress are associated with poor infant outcomes. However, no known study has investigated the effects of perinatal maternal obsessive-compulsive symptomatology on infant outcomes while considering important situational factors such as socioeconomic resources. Therefore, we investigated the effects of prenatal and postnatal obsessive-compulsive symptomatology on infant behavioral reactivity, beyond the effects of postnatal depressive symptomatology, at 6 months of age. It was expected that socioeconomic resources would moderate this relationship. We recruited 125 pregnant women from a Health Professional Shortage Area for </span>mental health and primary care in the Midwest United States and interviewed them at approximately 34 weeks gestation and again at 6 months postnatally. They were administered questionnaires at both time points measuring obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms. Infant behavioral reactivity was gathered during 6-month follow-up through behavioral observation coding and maternal-report modalities. Maternal-reported infant negative affectivity at 6 months was related to greater severity of maternal postnatal depressive symptomatology, and socioeconomic resources moderated the relationship between maternal prenatal obsessive-compulsive symptoms and maternal-reported infant negative affectivity. However, neither of these relations was statistically significant when infant reactivity was quantified using behavioral observations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41224014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cross-cultural measurement invariance of a developmental assessment tool in a small-scale intervention study","authors":"Nadine Doennecke , Janin Brandenburg , Claudia Maehler","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101888","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101888","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span>Development tests are widely used in the scope of cross-cultural and comparative research to support intervention studies and health care projects concerning </span>early childhood development<span>. Therefore, it is crucial to use culturally sensitive assessment tools. A culturally adapted version of the German development test FREDI 0–3 (Maehler, Cartschau, & Rohleder, 2016) was used to assess a German (</span></span><em>n</em> = 405) and an Indian (<em>n</em><span><span> = 2075) sample of children between ten and thirty-two months. Measurement invariance indicates </span>psychometric equivalence of a construct across groups and is a prerequisite for test applications in a cross-cultural setting. Confirmatory factor analyses for single cohorts per age group and multi-group measurement invariance analyses were used to examine the data equivalence of the test across groups. Weak measurement invariance could be established across both groups in all four age groups (10–14; 15–21; 22–26; 27–32 months) suggesting that the development factor was measured in the same way in both groups and accounted similarly for performance differences in the developmental subdomains for the German and the Indian sample. However, scalar and strict measurement invariance were violated in almost all group comparisons suggesting differences in scale difficulty and reliability across the German and the Indian sample. This suggests that a culture-sensitive adaptation process like it was carried out within this project is necessary but not sufficient in order to create a culturally comparable development test. It is essential to always carry out measurement invariance testing to determine the psychometric equivalence of the test and additionally reduce linguistic and cultural bias through an adaption process based on empirical proven methodological principles.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41172178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Group well child care and risk for developmental delay: Preliminary findings among Asian immigrants","authors":"Joan Jeung","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101887","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101887","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Group well-child care (GWCC) may promote interactive caregiving and prevent developmental delay. <em>Method:</em> This cross-sectional study explored the association between GWCC attendance and odds for suspected developmental delay among low-income Asian immigrants as measured by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)-III at age 18 months. <em>Results:</em> Odds for suspected developmental delay (OR=0.81, 95 % CI 0.40–1.62) were not significantly lower for GWCC infants. However, odds for developmental risk were significantly lower for GWCC infants in the ASQ’s problem-solving domain (OR= 0.40, 95 % CI 0.17–0.92). <em>Conclusion:</em> Among low-income Asian immigrants, GWCC participation may be associated with lower odds for cognitive developmental delay.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41165981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parental verbal responsiveness to infant vocalizations from 9 to 14 months of age","authors":"Yuran Lee , Seunghee Ha","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101886","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101886","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Parental communication styles and language usage may undergo changes during the course of child development, exhibiting variations across language backgrounds and cultures. This study aimed to explore how infant-parent interactions within Korean-speaking environments evolve over time through meticulous coding of day-long home audio recordings. The study examined whether the ratio and types of parental verbal responses vary based on infants’ age and vocalization types. A total of 16 infants and their parents participated in all-day home recordings using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system. The recordings were conducted in two rounds per family when the infants were aged 9–11 months and 12–14 months, with a three-month gap between each round. The frequency and types of infant vocalizations were analyzed and the contingency and types of parental verbal responsiveness were determined based on semantic and phonetic connection, as well as temporal appropriateness. The results showed that parents did not verbally respond to approximately 50 % of the infant vocalizations in the natural home environment. However, parents’ lack of verbal responses decreased significantly, and their contingent responses increased significantly with infant age. Parents were also not selectively responsive to infants’ canonical vocalizations over non-canonical vocalizations. Nevertheless, parents demonstrated a higher frequency of responses that were not only linguistically meaningful but also socially appropriate and contextually relevant to infants’ vocalizations as infants developed, which may play a significant role in scaffolding speech and language development.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10285912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Livia Branco Campos , Marina Kcrmar , Ana Alexandra Caldas Osório
{"title":"Predictors of screen exposure among infants under 2 years of age during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Livia Branco Campos , Marina Kcrmar , Ana Alexandra Caldas Osório","doi":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101885","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101885","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Contradicting pediatric societies’ recommendations, studies show that screen exposure begins at the first year of life for many children worldwide, with parental needs, educational purposes, and parental stress emerging as associated factors. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has likely worsened this scenario. This study aims to: 1) estimate the average daily screen exposure time for Brazilian infants aged 0–23 months during the COVID-19 pandemic based on caregiver report; 2) analyze the correlation between average exposure time, parental motivations for exposure, parental burnout levels and infant age; and 3) test the predictive role of parental motivations, burnout, and infant age on infant screen exposure. For this purpose, 139 parents (living in Brazil) answered online to questionnaires on infant screen exposure, parental motivations for exposure (four subscales: <em>Parental Needs</em>; <em>Educational</em>; <em>Child’s Desires/Family Routine</em>; <em>Behavioral Control</em>), and parental burnout (Total score; four subscales: <em>Emotional Exhaustion</em>; <em>Contrast</em>; <em>Feelings of Being Fed Up</em>; <em>Emotional Distancing</em>). On average, infants were exposed to screens for 131 min/day. Higher scores on the four parental motivation subscales and higher parental burnout (specifically the <em>Contrast</em> subscale) correlated with longer exposure times. Furthermore, the motivation subscales <em>Parental Needs</em> and <em>Child's Desires/family routine,</em> the burnout subscale <em>Contrast</em> and infant age predicted greater screen exposure, while the burnout scale <em>Feelings of Being Fed Up</em> predicted less exposure. Our results suggest that infants in Brazil were exposed to substantial amounts of screen time during the pandemic. Interventions aiming to reduce screen time must consider parental motivations and parental burnout/mental health along with infant age.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48222,"journal":{"name":"Infant Behavior & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10476392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}