The Development of Future Time Concepts Through Mother-Child Conversation

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between characteristics of mothers' talk about future events and young children's ability to contribute to naturalistic con- versations about future events. Results indicated that three maternal style factors were related to 2.5- and 4-year-olds' contributions: elaborative/advanced lan- guage, general and past reference, and repetitive prompts and preferences. Younger children's contributions were related to elaborative/advanced lan- guage and general and past reference factors. Older children's contributions were correlated with all three factors, but the highest correlation was found for elaborative/advanced language. These findings indicate that the maternal style variables affecting children's contributions to conversations about future events are different from those found in research on mother-child talk about past events. Mothers' use of conventional time terms was also related to 4-year-olds' production of temporal terms, suggesting that maternal time references con- tribute to children's understanding and use of temporal terminology. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between mother-child conversations about future events and the development of young children's understanding of future time.