Twenty-four infants and their preschool-aged siblings were observed in a laboratory playroom in the presence of their parents. Observations took place when the infants were 12 months old and again 6 months later. (JMB)

Naturalistic observations of 20-month-old infants and their older siblings (1 1/2 or 3 years older) suggested the presence or absence of the mother may be an important variable in interactions between the two. (BJD)

The effects of an observer's presence on maternal interactive behavior were examined through observation of mother-child pairs under informed and uninformed conditions. Results indicate mothers played with their children more, were more positive in their verbal behavior, and structured their children's activities more during the informed than…

Children's activities with their mothers and the techniques used by mothers while interacting with their child were examined in older (30-46 month) and younger (12-27 month) low socioeconomic status preschool children from high risk (in terms of cultural-familial retardation) and contrast homes. (JMB)

Results suggested that preschool age siblings may facilitate mastery of the object environment by infants. (Author/JMB)

Results did not support previous work suggesting large amounts of communication failure in the spontaneous talk of 4-year-old children. (Author)

Examines how conversations between parents and their 2-year-old children change as a function of the number of family members interacting. Results indicate that parental speech to their young children is influenced by the gender of their offspring and the number of family members interacting in the situation. (Author/RH)

Describes the interactions of 1five mothers inexperienced with deaf people and a deaf five-year-old, a hearing two-year-old and a hearing four and one-half-year-old. The women had fewer successful initiations and shorter interactions with deaf children. Modifications in their communication, especially in relation to "motherese," were…

Mothers and fathers of 43 middle-class families were observed interacting separately during a paper-folding task with either their only or middle child in order to assess parental use of evaluation and task-facilitative behaviors with preschoolers. Results indicate that parent behaviors vary with parent gender, child gender, and family…

Adult assistance procedures were experimentally compared for their effects upon the preschool child's tendency to persist in self-selected manipulative tasks in a free-play setting. (JMB)

Acting on the premise that she was teaching her son a task, each of 30 mothers selected consequences for her child's errors. In actuality, feedback to the mother regarding her son's performance was experimentally manipulated. Results showed that differential conditioning of both high and low maternal punitiveness could be achieved by using the…

This study describes differences in the quantity and style of female preschool teachers' dyadic verbal interaction with the girls and boys in their classes. Sixteen hours of the spontaneous speech of 4 female teachers and 38 girls and boys were tape recorded in two classroom situations, then transcribed and analyzed. (Author/CS)