Before they are 3;0-3;6, children typically do not engage with peers in focused interaction, although they do with adults. With parents, children interact around the "here-and-now". We hypothesize that young peers do not attempt to establish joint attention to present objects. Using the CHILDES database, we compared attention-directives…

One hundred dyads of low-income, Spanish-speaking mothers and their bilingual children (age = 12-18; M = 14.12, SD = 1.89) who have language brokered for the mother (i.e., culturally or linguistically mediated between the mother and English speakers) were surveyed. Multiple goals theory posits that mothers and children who do not recognize and…

The concept of bidirectionality represents a process of mutual influence between parent and child, whereby each influences the other as well as the dyadic relationship. Despite the widespread acceptance of bidirectional models of influence, there is still a lack of integration of such models in current research designs. Research on…

An attempt was made in the present study to identify mothers' and caregivers' teaching (mediation) behaviour in relation to toddlers' social behaviour. Participants were 103 toddlers, two- to four-year olds, their mothers, and 28 caregivers at 16 public daycare centres in Israel. Two observations were carried out, one in toddlers' homes and the…

The study examined the dyadic relationship between two nonverbal, severely handicapped children (5 and 6 years old) and their mothers. Ss were videotaped in a classroom at an early intervention program, and approximately 110 maternal verbalizations were transcribed. Among findings were that the dyads used little eye contact while communicating;…

This report examines the relationship between maternal medication during labor and mother-infant interaction on the third day of life. Subjects were 45 black low-income mothers and their healthy full-term infants. The mothers' perinatal drug history was obtained, and a coded observational schedule was used to record maternal and infant behaviors…

This bibliography focuses on the impact of caregiver-infant interaction as a basis for child development. The bibliography is divided into five sections: (1) factors which influence the quality of interactions, (2) components of parent-child interactions, (3) comparison of interaction patterns of children with normal and delayed development, (4)…

Presents findings of a study which examined the reactions of different family members to various social behaviors by a target child to determine what are the most probable consequences that child will experience. Discusses implications of results for understanding normative family interactions and clinical intervention. (KH)

This article presents a triadic interaction model that builds on and expands the strengths of the parent-infant dyad by providing contextual and interpersonal support for their interactions. The model gives explicit attention to the interactions among the three members of the early intervention triad: child, parent, and interventionist.…

Seventeen rating scales to assess parent-infant interactions are reviewed. A table provides identifying information, descriptive information, and psychometric qualities. Discussion includes implications for practice in the assessment of infants with disabilities and directions for future research. (Author/DB)

This study, involving 40 young siblings of either handicapped or nonhandicapped children, found that siblings of handicapped children engaged in more parallel and social play and were more nurturing with their siblings than were control children. Mothers were more likely to deliver commands, directives, and reprimands to siblings of handicapped…

One hundred mother/child dyads were involved in a study to provide empirical evidence on parent/child interaction in grocery stores and on the contributions of Saturday morning television commercials to those interactions and to the purchase of candy and cereals. Data were collected in 15 supermarkets in two midwestern cities. First, the…

This study explored the difference in intelligence among children from large families in relation to parent-child interaction patterns. The sample consisted of 56 children from large families living in Central West Virginia. The 56 children represented 20 families, all of which had five or more children, and were of similar economic circumstances.…

This study investigates those features of adult-child verbal interaction which are associated with high verbal ability. These aspects include: (1) Who initiates adult-child dialogues? (2) How long are they? and, (3) What are the parent's attitudes toward school achievement? (JM)

The Infant Parent Social Interaction Code was developed to measure infant-parent interaction utilizing four parent variables, four infant variables, and one dyadic variable for which operational definitions were developed. Preliminary and validation studies with a total of 232 infants and toddlers suggest the measure reveals important interactive…