Examines whether vocal exchanges between preverbal infants and their mothers show characteristics similar to those found to be typical of conversational exchanges between competent adult speakers. (HOD)

Examines verbal interactions of mothers and fathers with their school-age children (9 and 12 years of age) during structured sessions. Mothers, more than fathers, tend to use more problem-solving behaviors with their 9-year-olds than with their 12-year-olds and boys discriminate more than girls in their use of problem-solving behaviors with…

Addressing methodological limitations, Study One compared parent-child interactions of normal and language-delayed children; Study Two investigated whether mothers adjust the length of their utterances to the child's ability to comprehend or to produce language; Study Three probed interactional variables associated with variations in the…

Interview data from 336 mothers of elementary school children were used to examine the relationship between mothers' comments to children about the content of television programs and family communication styles (emphasis on free inquiry and expression for all family members vs. emphasis on family harmony and obedience to parental authority). (PD)

A study compared mothers' and fathers' speech patterns when speaking to preschool children, particularly utterance length, sentence types, and word frequencies. All of the children attended a nursery school with a student population of 136 in a large urban area in the Southwest. Volunteer subjects, 28 mothers and 28 fathers of 28 children who…

Compared the interaction of normal families and families with a drug-abusing member in order to describe the differences in their communication patterns. Concluded that addict families generally display more rigid communication patterns than do normal families. (PD)

Theories and research findings relating to the development, treatment, and effects of communication apprehension (CA) are presented in this paper. The first section, which traces the etiology and development of CA, posits a relationship between environment, personality constellations, and CA. A section on treatment of CA reviews and compares three…