A longitudinal semi‐cross‐sectional study of the development of mother‐child interaction

Abstract

Twelve mother‐child dyads were videotaped during fortnightly 30‐minute play sessions in a playroom within the psychology laboratories. At the outset of the project the children were aged 9–29 months and they took part in the study for an average of 7.5 months. A comprehensive 42‐category coding system was developed to transcribe potentially communicative behaviour. Changes in individual category usage over the age range were identified and subjected to further analysis to discern common patterns of mother‐child interaction which coincided with changes in child category usage. Frequent paired behaviours were isolated using conditional probabilities within a transition matrix and used as a basis for a further transition matrix. This analysis was carried out cross‐sectionally across mother‐child pairs within consecutive two‐month blocks from 9 to 36 months. Common patterns of interaction were identified as those used by most mother‐child pairs within any two‐month block. Certain patterns were found to be used across the entire age range, whilst others were used only at particular ages. The majority of the more stable patterns of interaction involved imitation by the mother or child, or both, and the child's non‐verbal compliance with the mother's orders. Those interactions which showed change with age involved the child behaviours of looking, pointing, labelling, giving information, denying and affirming. Mothers' behaviours within these latter interactions included labelling, giving information, questioning, imitation with questioning, pointing and direct imitation. Interaction patterns are discussed with reference to the child's language acquisition and their usefulness as possible teaching strategies.