Variability in mothers’ support for preschoolers’ contributions to co-constructed narratives as a function of child age

Abstract

Children’s narrative abilities in the preschool years have been found to predict their later literacy skills. Mothers’ verbalizations during shared personal narratives with their preschoolers have been shown to facilitate children’s development of narrative skills. The present study sought to extend the literature by investigating mothers’ use of two types of questions (information requests, ‘yes/no’ questions) and two types of confirmation (praise, repetition of child content) when discussing past events with their preschoolers, as a function of child age and gender. Study participants were 32 American mothers and their preschoolers, who were either 3 years of age or 5 years of age. Mother–preschooler dyads were audiotaped discussing three past events which they had shared. Results indicated that mothers provided significantly more information requests and repetition of child content when co-constructing narratives with 3-year-olds than with 5-year-olds. Overall, the results are consistent with the literature regarding parental sensitivity to children’s specific needs for task assistance in the early childhood period.