Parent–infant conversations are differentially associated with the development of preterm- and term-born infants

Abstract

Preterm birth is a risk factor for language difficulties. To better understand the language development of preterm-born infants, the current study investigated the concurrent associations between parent–infant conversations and the development of 22 preterm-born and 25 term-born infants at 2 years of age. Conversations occurring during mother/father–infant free-play interactions were analyzed to characterize features of parental speech (volubility, speech rate, lexical diversity, and morphosyntactic complexity) and parent–infant exchanges (parent responsiveness, turn-taking, and conversational balance). The infants’ language development (receptive communication and expressive communication) and non-language development (cognitive, social–emotional, and executive function) was assessed using standardized measures. Parent–infant conversations were associated with both language and non-language development. This suggests that parent–infant conversations may support language development directly and/or through advancing non-language skills that could promote language learning. The associations between parent–infant conversations and development varied as a function of birth status (preterm or term). This finding may signal the operation of different developmental processes within preterm- and term-born groups. Finally, infant development was differentially associated with mother–infant and father–infant conversations. This may point to the distinct contributions made by mothers and fathers to the development of both preterm- and term-born infants. To optimize language outcomes, these findings indicate that families should be guided to tailor parent–infant conversations to the unique developmental needs and processes of preterm-born infants. Families should also be supported to leverage the distinct developmental contributions of mothers and fathers. Future recommendations are made regarding how to investigate the proposed preterm–term differences in language development processes and the differential developmental contribution of mothers and fathers.