Measures fathers' and mothers' linguistic involvement in the development of communication between young siblings--infants and toddlers. In a laboratory setting, 39 families, each with a mother, a father and two children, were videotaped in semistructured activities. Results suggest that fathers very actively direct sibling interactions, especially…

Investigated why some married mothers of infants elect to be employed, while other married women remain out of the labor force during the first three years of their children's lives. Prior work experience and attitude toward future employment were the most salient factors discriminating the employed wives from the full-time housewives. (Author/BL)

This review of the literature regarding the impact of maternal speech on the formation of a child's sense of self compares the speech of well mothers to that of depressed mothers. The review finds that maternal speech has a strong influence on the formation of symbolic self-representations during the toddler period. However, depressed mothers'…

Compares the effectiveness of maternal punishment (time out, spanking), reasoning, and a combination of the two. Results based on mothers' (N=40) structured diaries of toddler fighting and disobedience indicate that mild punishment, combined with reasoning, is an effective discipline response to toddler misbehavior in terms of recurrence of…

Examined parenting styles of families of 105 preschoolers who experienced varying amounts of full-time infancy care. Found that mothers did not differ on nurturance, responsiveness, consistency, parental control, or use of physical punishment. Mothers of early care group were more likely to use reasoning and remind children about rules than…

An analysis of how mothers direct attention and play with their 18-month-old children found mothers of the four children with blindness were not more directive than mothers of the four sighted children, but they made some use of directives that were particular to the needs of young children with blindness. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Transcribed the speech of 3 African-American mothers and their 19- to 27-month-old children over a 9-month period. Compared to the language of Euro-American children described in earlier studies, the language of these African-American children developed similarly in length and semantic-syntactic relations but included more talk about needs, wants,…

Examined effects of task context and difficulty on mother-child instructional interactions and the role of maternal views about task context and difficulty. Mothers taught what they thought the particular context required and varied their teaching according to what they believed to be true of their children. (BG)

Examined patterns of children's inhibition and the behavior of their mothers, who were either well or depressed, in nonsocial and social situations that were unfamiliar. Children of unipolar depressed mothers were most inhibited. Boys were more inhibited to a new environment, and girls to a new person. Results suggested that encounters with the…

Attempted to replicate findings of a previous study which found that mother-toddler interaction during problem solving was related to the child's prior attachment security. Examined the relationship between problem-solving interactions on the one hand, and mother-child interactions at home and infant temperament on the other. (PCB)

Compared mothers' play with infants with Down syndrome (DSC) and typically developing children (TDC) matched for mental or chronological age. Found that TDC mothers exhibited more object demonstrations with their developmentally younger children, who showed less object play. DSC mothers were more directive and supportive than mothers of younger…

A methodological study of 33 2-year-olds shows that child speech occurs at about the same level in different settings (the familiar home vs. the unfamiliar laboratory), but that children speak more and in more differentiated ways with different people (mother vs. stranger). (Author/VWL)

Examined the relation between mothers' perception of their capacity for controlling infant crying and a later measure of compliance with parent requests by toddlers. Found that toddlers of mothers in the low and high illusion of control (overestimating of maternal control) groups were more likely to be highly defiant than were toddlers of mothers…

A study involving 48 hearing mothers and their 2-year-old children with and without hearing impairments found mothers with children with hearing impairments touched each other more and that, unlike hearing dyads, the presence of material hostility was related to a decrease in the number of maternal and child touches. (Contains references.)…

Deaf (N=20) and hearing (N=20) children were observed during play with their hearing mothers at 22 months and 3 years. The deaf children were severely language delayed, with deaf 3-year-olds using less language (speech or sign) than hearing 22-month-olds. Since mothers used primarily speech, deaf children received much less communication input…