Infants' motor skill development triggers changes in parent-infant interactions, exploration, and play behaviors, particularly during periods of locomotor transitions. We investigated how these transitions reorganized infants' and mothers' explorations of spatial layouts. Thirteen infants and their mothers were followed biweekly from the age of 6…

As part of a longitudinal study, infant/toddler pretend play development and maternal play modelling were investigated in dyadic context. A total of 21 children were videotaped in monthly play sessions with their mothers, from age 8 to 17 months. Child and mother pretend play frequencies and levels were measured using Brown's Pretend Play…

To investigate possible influences on and consequences of mothers' speech, specific infant behaviors preceding and following four pragmatic categories of mothers' utterances--responsive utterances, supportive behavioral directives, intrusive behavioral directives, and intrusive attentional directives--were examined longitudinally during dyadic…

The relations among infant anger reactivity, approach behavior, and frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, and their relations to inhibitory control and behavior problems in early childhood were examined within the context of a longitudinal study of temperament. Two hundred nine infants' anger expressions to arm restraint were observed at 4…

The concurrent and predictive relations of sensorimotor behavior and play to language in the second year were assessed among 19 preterm and 20 full-term infants tested at 13 1/2 and 22 months of age. Numerous associations between play and language were identified; sensorimotor behavior and language in the same age period were relatively loosely…

In order to specify the factor structure and stability of infant and maternal behavior, mother/infant interaction was observed when infants were 12 and 24 months of age. Mothers and infants observed in dyadic interaction in a playroom during a 15-minute free play period represented a heterogeneous sample across gender, socioeconomic status, and…

Social smiles of 10 visually impaired 4 to 12 month olds were examined longitudinally in play interactions with their mothers. All infants demonstrated both the presence of social smiles and the second Piagetian stage of cognitive development at the start of the study. Social smiling increased in frequency from 6 to 12 months. (Author/CB)

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the development of symbolic play in 2-year-old Japanese infants. The subjects were four children who were individually tested once a month from the age of 12 to 24 months in laboratory settings. Assessment materials consisted of three sets of miniature toys, a doll and junk objects. Each set…

Combinatorial abilities in language and elicited symbolic play were compared in a longitudinal study of 30 children at 20 and 28 months. In addition, multivariate analyses were used to assess the stability of individual differences. Generally, different symbolic play variables contributed unique explained variance to different language variables.…

Mothers' and fathers' socialization of one- and two-year-old children's sex-typed play behaviors was examined. For each parent, dyadic interactions were videotaped in the home on two occasions six months apart. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the social learning account of sex-role development. (Author/RH)

In a longitudinal study, infants 6 to 18 months of age were observed in their homes playing with their mothers and with peers to determine how they coordinated attention to people and objects. Person engagement declined with age, while coordinated joint engagement increased; both passive and coordinated joint engagement were much more likely when…

This study was designed to assess genetic influence on behavioral inhibition and its varying expression in 92 monozygotic and 86 dizygotic twin pairs. Infant behavior and mother-child interaction were observed and videotaped during structured play sessions at age 14, 20, 24, and 36 months. Analysis of the results suggests that most of the overlap…

To test the inversion of intensity interpretation based on negative relations between newborn and pre-school intensity behaviors, 106 normal children were examined at the neonatal and pre-school periods. Interpretations of intensity behaviors at both periods and their longitudinal relations are discussed. (Author/SB)

Examined maternal and infant behaviors, behavioral coordination, maternal response, and nonresponse in relation to security of attachment. Subjects were 40 Euro-American mothers and 39 Central American immigrant mothers studied when their infants were 4-, 8-, and 12-months-old. Found that individual differences on measures of maternal response and…

This longitudinal study of the development of nonverbal behavior in the first 3 years of a child's life focuses on four factors: the relation between physical and vocal interaction between the child and his mother, observed cuses which can be used to interpret the child's communicative intent at different age levels, frequency of occurrence and…