This study of mother-infant pairs investigates sex differences and age differences (infants of 6, 9, and 12 months of age) in mother and infant initiations of interactions and responses to the other's initiations. (SS)

Analysis of the social exchanges of 33 toddlers with developmental disabilities showed that more of the observation time was spent socially with mothers than with peers, and the number of turns per exchange was longer with mothers. However, toddlers initiated more social exchanges with peers than with mothers. Few changes were exhibited over time.…

This study examined relations among parent-child interaction style and children's social behavior at school. A total of 158 children were observed for 4 hours in their homes the summer before their kindergarten year. Interactions with mothers and fathers were rated in terms of their engagement reciprocity and affective tone. Interactions were then…

Several sets of evidence are offered to support the hypothesis that cognitive and social development are intimately interrelated, and that mother-infant interaction influences both. A mother's prompt responsiveness to her baby's signals tends to foster the development of varied and clear modes of communication and thus the development of one facet…

The conversational interactions of 25 mothers and their 4.5-year-old children, who had been born preterm, were evaluated during a social problem-solving task. The subject mothers tended to approach the task as a vocabulary lesson, whereas comparison mothers tended to focus on the social negotiation aspect of the task. Possible explanations for…

Thirty-three deaf and 33 hearing children were videotaped playing with their hearing mothers at 22 months and 3 years of age. The deaf and hearing dyads differed at 22 months only on communicative competence. In addition, interactions in deaf dyads were mother dominated and less harmonious than in hearing dyads. At 3 years, the deaf children also…

This paper reviews Diana Baumrind's studies of the effect of various types of parental control on children's behavior and concludes that a child is more likely to develop a sense of competence, responsibility, and independence if he or she is given firm and reasonable guidelines. A brief survey of Baumrind's first two studies of preschool children…

The way that mothers' input assists children with the use of their linguistic resources for negotiating peer interaction was studied. Two two-year-old girls and their mothers were videotaped once a month for eight months while the foursome met at a weekly playgroup. The mothers' language was analyzed in terms of the following questions: (1) Does…

This report summarizes three related studies of 3- to 5-year-old children's temperament and its relationship to their social competence, ability to solve interpersonal problems, locus of control, parent behavior and teacher/child interactions. Fifty-eight children, predominantly middle class participants in a laboratory preschool, and their…