Joint Reading between Black Head Start Children and Their Mothers

This study examined the behaviors of black Head Start children and their mothers around a series of experimental joint reading contexts in their homes. There were 2 specific objectives: (1) to examine the effects of text genre (narrative and expository) and text format (familiar and traditional) on mothers' teaching strategies while interacting with their children around reading tasks, and (2) to examine the effectiveness of mothers' teaching strategies in eliciting children's participation in the joint reading tasks. 13 mother-child dyads were videotaped in their homes while interacting around a series of texts in each genre and format. Results indicated that genre, not format, affected mothers' teaching strategies. Further, mothers adjusted their level of teaching to children's level of task competence. Results are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's notion of the zone of proximal development.     

Evidence‐Based Interventions for Depressed Mothers and Their Young Children

Depression in mothers is a significant risk factor for the development of maladjustment in children. This article focuses on modifiable risk processes linking depression in mothers and adaptation in their young children (i.e., infancy through preschool age). First, the authors present evidence of the efficacy of interventions for reducing the primary source of risk: maternal depression. Second, they describe a central mechanism—parenting behaviors—underlying the relation between maternal depression and children's adjustment. Third, the authors recommend two different integrated interventions that successfully treat mothers’ depression and enhance parenting skills with infants and young children. Finally, the authors note the possible need for supplementary interventions to address severity and comorbidity of mothers’ depression, barriers to engaging in treatment, and the sustainability of program benefits.     

How European American and Taiwanese Mothers Talk to Their Children About Learning

Little cross‐cultural research exists on parental socialization of children's learning beliefs. The current study compared 218 conversations between European American and Taiwanese mothers and children (6–10 years) about good and poor learning. The findings support well‐documented cultural differences in learning beliefs. European Americans mentioned mental activities and positive affect more, whereas Taiwanese mentioned learning virtues and negative affect more. Mothers, especially European American, reciprocated their children's talk about mental activities, learning virtues, and negative affect. Children, especially Taiwanese, reciprocated their mother's talk about positive affect. Mothers invoked more mental activities and positive affect when discussing good learning, but more learning virtues and negative affect when discussing poor learning. These findings reveal a source of cultural differences in beliefs and potential enculturation.     

Caregiving Practices of Low-Income Adolescent Mothers and the Academic Competence of Their First-Grade Children

Objective. This study examines the relation between the caregiving practices of teenage mothers and the academic performances of their children in first grade. Design. The teenage mothers were involved in a family support program, and data were collected on the sample for 7 years (the prenatal period through first grade). The sample included 89 children who participated in the first-grade follow-up and who resided with their biological mothers. Children's school performance was assessed with an achievement test in the fall semester of first grade and with teachers' ratings of academic performance at the end of the spring semester. Caregiving practices were assessed by both the research team and the family advocates who worked with the young mothers during the 5-year family support program; mothers also reported on home support for academic achievement during the first-grade interview. Results. Measures of home environment, advocates' ratings of parenting, and mothers' self-report of support for achievement were positively correlated with children's achievement in first grade. Conclusions. Results from multiple regression analyses were consistent with the view that differences in parenting prior to school entry and in maternal support for achievement once the child enters school are predictive of individual differences in first-grade achievement among children born to low-income adolescent mothers.     

Mutually Responsive Orientation between Mothers and Their Young Children: Implications for Early Socialization

Parent-child mutually responsive, binding, reciprocal orientation, or a system of reciprocity has been implicated as fundamental in socialization, particularly by Maccoby, but it remains poorly understood. In this study, two posited components of such orientation, mother-child shared cooperation with each other and mother-child shared positive affect, were measured in multiple contexts of daily interactions using a combination of micro and macroscopic behavioral coding systems, subsequently aggregated. Mothers' self reports were also used. Two implications of thus conceptualized mutually responsive orientation were examined: mothers' use of power in disciplinary interactions and children's degree of internalization of maternal rules, both assessed using multiple observational and mother-reported measures. Mothers and children were studied twice, when children were 26–41 months (Time 1, N = 103), and when they were 43–56 months (Time 2, N = 99). In the dyads high on the mutually responsive orientation (particularly those who maintained such orientation throughout early childhood), mothers resorted to less power and children were more internalized regarding maternal values and rules, in the contemporaneous and longitudinal sense. Mothers high on empathic perspective taking were more likely to establish a system of reciprocity with their children. The importance of such systems for social development is discussed.     

Experiences and Support Needs of Mothers of Children with Food Allergy During the Transition to School

Despite the increasing attendance of children with food allergy in schools in Australia and globally, little is known about how affected families manage their children’s transition to school. This paper discusses the experiences and support needs of ten mothers during their child’s transition to school in Sydney, Australia, drawn from the thematic analysis of Photo Elicitation Interviews in homes. One of the significant findings of this study was that most mothers found their child’s transition to school both emotionally and practically challenging, even though their children previously attended a long day care or preschool setting. While the school’s pro-active transitional planning, procedures of food allergy management and psychological support provided to families facilitated a smooth start to school, a lack of these, together with poor or no communication and non-involvement of families in the management of children’s food allergy hindered it. Correspondingly, mothers highlighted the need for schools to keep children’s food allergy at the forefront of their transitional planning and support them holistically by pro-actively communicating, collaborating and involving families in the discussions about food allergy, empowering them with information on the school’s policies and procedures, and acknowledging their concerns of safety. Mothers considered these things to be essential. Additionally, mothers provided advice to other parents on how to achieve a positive start to school. The implications of this study’s findings for schools and families are discussed. Considering the small sample size and generalisability of the findings to other contexts and countries, further research is recommended both nationally and internationally.     

汉语重度听障儿童与其健听母亲语用交流行为之比较研究

在半结构语境中,通过采用国际上通用的儿童语言资料转换系统(CHIDES)、母子言语互动交流行为编码系统(INCA-A),以及CLAN数据分析程序对4-6岁汉语重度听障儿童与其健听母亲的语用交流行为进行比较研究,发现汉语重度听障儿童与其健听母亲的言语行为存在相互影响;汉语重度听障儿童与其健听母亲互动过程中形成了一套共同的主要言语行为类型,在言语倾向和言语变通水平上存在极其显著的差异。     

Perceptions and Evaluations of Child Transgressions and Disciplinary Techniques in High- and Low-Risk Mothers and Their Children

Perceptions and evaluations of children's transgressions (moral, conventional, personal), parental disciplinary actions (power assertion, love withdrawal, induction), and expected outcomes (compliance) were assessed in matched high- and low-risk (for physical abuse) mothers and their children. High-risk mothers and their children evaluated conventional and personal transgressions as more wrong than low-risk mothers and their children. Although both high- and low-risk mothers and their children varied disciplinary responses according to the type of transgression, high-risk mothers used power assertion (verbal and physical force) more often and induction (reasoning and explanation) less often. High-risk mothers also perceived the use of power assertion by others as more appropriate. With respect to outcomes, high-risk mothers, compared to low-risk mothers, expected less compliance following moral transgressions and more compliance after personal transgressions. Children of both high-and low-risk mothers made compliance predictions following moral and personal transgressions that were similar to the low-risk mothers' predictions.     

Sharing Books and Learning Language: What do Latina Mothers and Their Young Children Do?

This study examined low-income, Spanish-speaking, immigrant Latina mothers' book sharing behaviors in relation to their children's vocabulary. Participants were 47 3-year-old children and their mothers. We addressed two research questions: (a) What interactive behaviors are evident when low-income immigrant Latina mothers and their 3-year-old children look at books together? (b) For these children and their mothers, which book-sharing behaviors are related to children's expressive language? Overall, our results indicated that mothers were involved in several kinds of interactions with the books. They enhanced their children's attention to the printed text, promoted interaction or conversation with their children about what was in the books, and somewhat less often, used more complex literacy strategies. Mothers who did these things most had children with the largest vocabularies even when mothers' vocabulary was taken into account. Implications for designing interventions for similar families are discussed.     

不同教育背景母亲在亲子会话中词汇运用的差异比较

为探讨不同教育背景的母亲在母子会话中词汇运用水平的差异,本研究对40对母子在自发会话时母亲的词汇运用水平进行了研究,其中40位母亲具有不同的教育背景,其子女年龄分别在18个月、24个月、30个月、36个月四个年龄段。结果表明:在词汇的整体运用水平上,高教育背景母亲的词汇运用水平高于低教育背景母亲,且在基本词汇频次和丰富性等方面呈显著差异;在影响关系上,高教育背景母亲的母子双方词汇运用水平相关程度较高,二者多数为显著或极其显著,而低教育背景母子双方词汇运用水平相关程度低,甚至出现负相关,显示高教育背景母亲对儿童指向言语更为敏感。但研究结果同时显示:两类母亲在运用词汇时均对儿童词汇的年龄发展规律不敏感,因此两类母亲对儿童指向言语的年龄变化的敏感度都不高。     

Infants' Instrumental Use of Their Mothers to Achieve Their Goals

In order to investigate very young children's active contribution to managing interaction with others, we examined 6–13-month-old infants' instrumental use of their mothers to reach goals. We examined the idea that infants are already involved at 6 months in managing interaction with adults, with rapidly increasing instrumental use of mothers between 6 and 13 months. 64 mother-infant pairs were videotaped during structured episodes in which the investigator instructed the mother to challenge the infant to use her instrumentally to get access to or to work a toy. Already at 6 months of age, infants used their mothers instrumentally in 36% of the episodes. The amount of infants' instrumental use of their mothers increased to 67% of episodes at 9 months and continued increasing to 78% of the episodes by 13 months. These results suggest early and rapid development of infants' management of joint activities from as early as the middle of the first year of life.     

Adolescent Mothers and Their Children's Early School Performance

This study examined differences in child-mother interaction, classroom adjustment during kindergarten, and retention in kindergarten between 41 first-born children of adolescent mothers (18 years old or younger at the time of the child's birth) and 88 first-born children of adult mothers (20 to 24 years old at the time of the child's birth). Maternal education was included as a covariate in comparisons. The children of adolescent and adult mothers were generally indistinguishable in areas of classroom adjustment, retention in kindergarten, and child-mother interaction when mothers' education was considered. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research and policy.     

Vagal Regulation in Breastfeeding Infants and Their Mothers

Consistent with the gustatory–vagal hypothesis, vagal stimulation during breastfeeding may contribute to infants' physiological regulatory development independent of caregiving effects. This study examined whether breastfeeding predicted 6‐month‐old infants' (N = 151) and their mothers' vagal regulation during the face‐to‐face still‐face (FFSF). Although breastfed and nonbreastfed infants showed expected vagal withdrawal during the Still‐Face episode, only breastfed infants showed continued withdrawal during the reunion episode, suggesting greater physiological mobilization to repair the interaction. Breastfeeding mothers showed higher vagal tone than nonbreastfeeding mothers at baseline, suggesting greater capacity for regulation, and throughout the FFSF, suggesting calmer states. Breastfeeding effects were independent of maternal sensitivity. Findings suggest that infants' and mothers' physiological regulation may be shaped by breastfeeding independently of associated social factors.     

Social and Emotional Competence in Children of Depressed Mothers

The relations between maternal unipolar major depression and children's self-concept, self-control, and peer relationships were studied in a middle-class, predominantly white sample of 96 families. Each family included a target child between the ages of 5 and 10. Depressed mothers varied on whether or not the child's father also had a psychiatric disorder. Well mothers all had spouses with no psychiatric disorders. Analyses controlled for marital status, age, and sex of child. Children completed measures of self-concept and peer relations skills; teachers completed measures of self-control and a rating of popularity with peers. Results supported the multiple risk factor model in that fathers' psychiatric status and parents' marital status explained much of the variability in children's social and emotional competence. Maternal depression alone, in the context of a well husband/father, was only related to children having been rated by their teachers as less popular. Results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms by which maternal depression may interact with paternal psychopathology and divorce in relation to children's social and emotional competence. The findings may further indicate that older children are more vulnerable to these multiple risk factors than younger children.     

对立违抗障碍儿童的家庭教养方式及对其症状的影响——一项质性研究分析

目的:考察会引发隔代抚养家庭对立违抗障碍儿童的家庭教养行为及造成的对立违抗症状表现.方法:应用访谈法对29名符合对立违抗障碍标准的独生儿童、儿童家长和儿童教师进行访谈.结果:从祖父母对儿童的教养行为、父母对儿童的教养行为、祖父母与父母间的教养行为、父母之间的教养行为这样一个家庭互动方式的角度对访谈资料进行分析.其中,祖辈的溺爱,父辈的低父母参与度、过度严苛、简单、粗暴的教养策略,不良的亲子沟通,自身教养行为的不一致,不同养育者(祖辈与父辈、父母)间不一致是不良的教养方式,是引发儿童对立违抗障碍的家庭教养行为.结论:在对立违抗儿童的干预中,应加大父辈在儿童教养中的参与度,减少祖父母与父母异辈之间、父母之间的不一致教养行为,还应把祖辈纳入到干预体系中,并为家庭提供一些具体的教养技能.     

Parenting Teamwork: The Impact of a Fathering Intervention on Mothers and Infants in Vietnam

A multifaceted, relationally focused intervention involving group and individual pre- and postnatal counseling, print resources, and community resources encouraged 390 fathers of newborn infants in Vietnam to responsively support mothers and work with them as a parenting team. Both partners completed questionnaires prebirth and 1-, 4-, and 9-months postbirth on measures of breastfeeding support, exclusive breastfeeding duration, relationship quality, and infant development. Compared to 412 comparison group couples, intervention couples evidenced greater father support, especially in terms of helping and responsiveness to the mother's needs. This support predicted longer exclusive breastfeeding duration, improved relationship quality, and higher levels of infant development at 9 months. Sensitively working together with mothers as a coordinated team enhanced couple's relationship functioning and improved children's developmental outcomes.     

3～6岁儿童在母子互动情境中使用否定语句的研究

儿童使用否定语句的情况可用于衡量儿童的语言和社会性发展水平.本研究基于CHILDES语料库的语料,从年龄、性别差异和总体情况三方面,对3～6岁儿童在母子互动情境中使用否定语句的情况进行分析.结果发现:(1)相对于3岁儿童,6岁儿童更倾向于指出对方的行为错误或否定对方的行为.(2)女孩在“反对并阻止对方行为”方面的能力显著高于男孩.(3)3～6岁儿童在母子互动情境中使用否定语句的情况与其年龄和性别相关性不高.据此,研究者建议,教育者宜多关注儿童使用否定语句的情况,帮助儿童优化否定语句的表达策略,为儿童创造使用否定语句的机会.