In this study 9-month-old infants in rural and urban Gujarat, India were compared in how frequently and in which way they engage in triadic interactions. It was assumed that urban caregivers would engage in a child-centered interaction style, frequently creating triadic interactions and following infants' signals. It was also expected that they…

Children who have not developed speech tend to use gestures to communicate. Since gestures are not encouraged and suppressed in the Indian traditional context while speaking, this study focused on profiling the developing gestures in children to explore whether they use the gestures before development of speech. Eight normally developing…

In neurotypical infants, genetically-specified attachment/attention mechanisms underpin the motivation to interact, which enables the acquisition of socio-cultural norms for language and accounts for the efficacy of socialization processes (Lee et al., 2009; Schumann, 2013). In children with autism, as in second language acquisition,…

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the quality of mother-infant interactions in emotionally disturbed (ED) mothers. Method: 20 mothers with or without ED and their infants (12-24 months) participated in the study, which involved the mothers interacting with their infants with a toy in a structured play situation. These interactions were…

Cultures differ with respect to parenting strategies already during infancy. Distal parenting, i.e., face-to-face context and object stimulation, is prevalent in urban educated middle-class families of Western cultures; proximal parenting, i.e., body contact and body stimulation, is prevalent in rural, low-educated farmer families. Parents from…

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) 2018, organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.). Modern psychology offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and…

Observed 54 dual-wage and 34 single-wage Indian couples during interactions with their infant children. Results confirmed traditional patterns of involvement with babies irrespective of family structure, and differential maternal involvement with babies by family structure. Personal well-being and kinship ties were good predictors of…

Discusses two studies of infant care in India. The first focused on fathers' infant caregiving practices, whereas the second focused on infant care practices in Punjabi families in which the grandmother lived with young parents. Discusses positive trends in infant care in India that were revealed by the studies. (BG)

This study addresses two specific questions: (1) can changes in infant behavior and maternal attitudes be observed as a function of the child's sex, and (2) if so, at what age do the sex differences become observable? (Author/AM)

Compared with fathers, mothers were more likely to pick up and hold infants, feed and comfort them, and invest time in displaying affection. Although there were sex differences in parents' rough and peek-a-boo play, mothers and fathers treated boys and girls quite similarly. (RH)

Discusses the salience of father-infant rough play in some countries and presents data on the physical play interactions of 34 Indian mothers and fathers with their 1 year olds. The data suggest that fathers do not have a greater propensity than mothers for rough play and that rough play may be culture specific. (Author/LB)

This study examined the relationship between Indian women's work and breastfeeding, focusing on the constraints imposed by combining work with breastfeeding, the strategies women used, and the support they received. A non-probability convenience sample of 969 mothers of infants 1 year or younger (34 percent from rural areas) was used. Four areas…

Examines the effect of day care environments on the social and emotional development of young children in India, particularly considering the cultural context. Considers evidence from a study of families using day care in India, and compares maternal behavioral profiles in mother-infant interaction between India and the United States, Kenya,…

Using a comparative-cultural perspective, this collection of essays examines the co-constructivist nature of human development in culturally organized environments. The contributions also cover a large age span--infancy to adulthood. Chapters in part 1 cover two different directions in the study of early adult-infant interaction from a comparative…