Sequential communication patterns reflecting building blocks of conversation: Associations with toddler temperament and mother and father sensitivity

Although parent-child conversation is a well-established predictor of subsequent language development, the field lacks understanding of how these conversations emerge and are sustained in everyday life, and of non-sociodemographic factors that account for variability in everyday parent-child conversations. In a sample of 24 one-year-olds (Mean Age = 16.47 months; 95.8 % White, 4.2 % Biracial) and their parents who completed daylong audio recordings, we identified three communication sequences reflecting crucial building blocks of parent-toddler conversation: 1) parental responses to toddler verbal/pre-verbal vocalizations, 2) the effect of parental responses on the toddler’s subsequent communicative behavior (i.e., whether the toddler vocalized again) and 3) parental initiation of conversations. We examined factors accounting for variability in these sequences, including toddler temperament (effortful control and negative affectivity), parental sensitivity, and the interaction between toddler temperament and parental sensitivity. Higher toddler effortful control predicted marginally greater likelihood of maternal responses to toddler vocalizations, marginally greater likelihood that toddlers vocalized following maternal responses, and significantly greater likelihood that fathers initiated conversation with their toddlers. The effects of toddler negative affectivity were largely moderated by parental sensitivity, with higher negative affectivity generally being negatively associated with sequential patterns of parent-toddler conversation engagement, but with higher mother or father sensitivity buffering against or compensating for some of these disruptions. The results highlight the need to disentangle different aspects of parent-toddler conversation to understand factors that account for individual differences in conversation engagement in naturalistic settings.