Mother-child Conversations Research Articles

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Once Upon a Time: Explaining Cultural Differences in Episodic Specificity

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Once Upon a Time: Explaining Cultural Differences in Episodic Specificity

The Relation between Mother-Child Conversation with Educational Significance and Factor of Mother

The Relation between Mother-Child Conversation with Educational Significance and Factor of Mother

Emotion Regulation and Attachment: Unpacking Two Constructs and Their Association

This study examined the association between the security of attachment and processes influencing the development of emotion regulation in young children. A sample of 73 4 1/2-year-olds and their mothers were observed in an emotion regulation probe involving mild frustration for children, and mothers and children were later independently interviewed about how the child had felt. Fewer than half the mothers agreed with children’s self-reports in the emotion they attributed to children (a lower rate than the concordance of observer ratings with children’s self-reports), and higher mother-child concordance was associated with secure attachment and mother’s beliefs about the importance of attending to and accepting their own emotions. Mother-child conversations about recent events evoking children’s negative emotion were also analyzed. Children were less likely to avoid conversing about negative feelings when they were in secure attachments and when mothers were more validating of the child’s perspective. Children’s greater understanding of negative emotions was also significantly associated with higher mother-child concordance and less child conversational avoidance. Taken together, these findings underscore the multiple influences of attachment on emotion regulation and the importance of children’s emotion understanding to these processes.

Mother–Child Joint Conversational Exchanges During Events: Linkages to Children's Memory Reports Over Time

This longitudinal study explores linkages between patterns of mother–child conversation as events unfold and children's subsequent event memory reports. Eighty-nine mother-child dyads took part in novel “adventures” in their homes when the children were 36 and 42 months old. In contrast to “low joint talk” dyads, the conversations of “high joint talk” dyads were characterized by a high proportion of children's correct responses to their mothers' Wh- questions, and a low proportion of failures to respond to these queries. Children in the high joint talk dyads reported more in memory assessments at 36 and 42 months than their low joint talk counterparts. The results point to specific forms of elaborative conversational interactions that may be especially important for successful remembering.

Conversations about emotion in high-risk dyads

Early emotional understanding is fostered by mother–child conversation in which mothers elaboratively enhance children's understanding. Little is known of the broader relational and risk factors influencing maternal discourse style, how discourse content and quality are associated with children's emotion language, and how these predict emotion understanding. In this longitudinal study of a high-risk sample, attachment security and family risks were assessed when children were 2 years old. One year later, observations of mother–child emotion conversation yielded measures of maternal discourse content and quality, and children's emotion words and emotion labels. Child emotion understanding was independently assessed one year later as well. Central findings were: (1) content and quality of maternal discourse was negatively related to family risk factors and positively associated with secure attachment; (2) child emotion language in conversation was positively associated with secure attachment beyond the effects of child language and maternal discourse content; and (3) differences in emotion language ability predicted children's emotion understanding.

Shaping children's internal working models through mother–child dialogues: the importance of resolving past maternal trauma

The study examined how mothers who were sexually abused as children guide conversations about emotional events with their children. We hypothesized that compared to mothers who were less resolved regarding their traumatic past, those who were more resolved would better guide such conversations. The dialogues of 33 mothers and their children were assessed using the Autobiographical Emotional Events Dialogue procedure (AEED; Koren-Karie, Oppenheim, Haimovich, & Etzion-Carasso, 2000) which yields three composite scores: Mothers' Sensitive Guidance, Child Cooperation and Exploration, and Coherent Narrative. Level of resolution of the trauma was assessed using the BLAAQ-U (Main, van IJzendoorn, & Hesse, 1993). Other measures pertaining to the abuse and to maternal psychopathology were also obtained. As hypothesized, mothers who were more resolved showed more sensitive guidance, their children were more cooperative, and their narratives were more coherent. Measures of the abuse and of maternal psychopathology were not associated with mother–child conversations.

The role of representational status and item complexity in parent–child conversations about pictures and objects

Mother–child conversations about pictures systematically differ from mother–child conversations about objects: Pictures are more likely than objects to elicit talk about kinds, whereas objects are more likely than pictures to elicit talk about individuals. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether this difference between pictures and objects is explained by differences in item complexity. Mothers and their 4-year-old children were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: simple or complex. In each condition, participants viewed 12 toy objects and 12 pictures, matched for content. The items were either highly detailed (complex condition) or very plain (simple condition). Replicating previous research, mothers and children provided relatively more focus on kinds when talking about pictures, and relatively more focus on individuals when talking about objects. The current results go further, however, to demonstrate that this effect is independent of the items’ complexity. We therefore propose that the picture–object difference is not due to low-level differences in amount of perceptual detail provided, but rather is due to the greater ease with which pictures serve as representations [DeLoache, J. S. (1991). Symbolic functioning in very young children: Understanding of pictures and models. Child Development, 62, 736–752]. These data indicate the ways in which a fundamental conceptual distinction between kinds and individuals arises in different linguistic expressions and in different contexts.

Mother–Child Conversations about Emotions: Linkages to Child Aggression and Prosocial Behavior

AbstractWe examined associations of maternal and child emotional discourse and child emotion knowledge with children's behavioral competence. Eighty‐five upper middle‐income, mostly White preschoolers and mothers completed a home‐based bookreading task to assess discourse about emotions. Children's anger perception bias and emotion situation knowledge were assessed in a separate interview. Children's prosocial behavior, relational aggression, and physical aggression were observed during a preschool‐based triadic play task. Mothers' emotion explanations were correlated with children's emotion situation knowledge and relational aggression. Both mothers' and children's emotion explanations predicted prosocial behavior whereas mothers' use of positive emotional themes was negatively associated with children's anger perception bias. Physical aggression was predicted by mothers' emotion comments, children's anger perception bias, and lack of emotion situation knowledge. Maternal emotion socialization variables were less strongly related to children's behavioral competence after accounting for demographics and child emotional competence. Implications of these findings for future research on emotion socialization are discussed.

Attachment, Parent–Child Discourse and Theory‐of‐Mind Development

AbstractThis study investigated the relations among attachment, mother–child discourse, and theory of mind in a sample of 76 four‐year‐old children (mean age = 4.48 years; 36 boys). Mother–child conversations about a past event were coded for maternal use of elaborative discourse and mothers' references to mental states. Mothers completed the attachment q‐sort and children completed four false‐belief tasks. Results revealed that maternal conversational elaboration was a significant predictor of children's theory‐of‐mind performance, whereas maternal mental state references and attachment security were not. The findings provide further evidence for the importance of discourse in children's theory‐of‐mind development.

Maternal Mental State Language and Preschool Children's Attachment Security: Relation to Children's Mental State Language and Expressions of Emotional Understanding

AbstractMothers’ mental state language in conversation with their preschool children, and children's preschool attachment security were examined for their effects on children's mental state language and expressions of emotional understanding in their conversation. Children discussed an emotionally salient event with their mothers and then relayed the event to a stranger. Compared to mothers of insecurely attached children, mothers of securely attached children used more mental state language and had children who used more mental state language with both mother and stranger, and who expressed more emotional understanding in the mother–child conversation. Maternal mental state language and attachment security made shared contributions to children's mental state language with their mothers. Maternal mental state language accounted for the effects of attachment security on children's expressions of emotional understanding in the mother–child conversation. Mothers’ mental state language to their children may enhance secure attachment and foster children's understanding of mental states in self and others.

Experimental Analysis of the Relationship Between Speaking Rate and Stuttering During Mother–Child Conversation II

This study investigated the relationship between stuttering and speaking rates in a 4 year-old male child who stuttered and the child's mother during conversations. A single-subject experimental time-series design (ABCDA) was used to investigate the effect of decreasing the speaking rates of both the mother and the child on stuttering. Decreasing speaking rates of both the mother and child produced a decrease in the stuttering rate of the child, not accompanied by reductions in either linguistic complexity or frequency of interruption. The diminished stuttering observed during manipulation generalized to other speaking situations.

Maternal and child predictors of low-income children's educational attainment

Much research has investigated maternal and child predictors of educational attainment. This longitudinal study builds on past research by examining how everyday mother–child conversations about decision-making in early adolescence predict adolescents' decisions to drop out of high school, terminate their education with a high school degree, or complete high school and enroll in tertiary education. Forty-four mothers' use of emotionally enabling speech and willingness to allow their 7th grade children (25 girls; 19 boys) to select their friends predicted children's later decisions about educational attainment in high school. In contrast, children's reported intrinsic motivation, receptive vocabulary scores, and mothers' education did not predict children's educational attainment. These findings underscore the importance of going beyond status variables such as maternal education, to incorporate measures of parent–child interaction in predicting adolescents' educational trajectories.

Maternal Attitudes and Parent Education: How Immigrant Mothers Support Their Child’s Education Despite Their Own Low Levels of Education

A study of Mexican immigrant mothers of young children in the AVANCE-Dallas early childhood intervention program demonstrates that low-educational parents often exhibit ambitious attitudes about educational achievement for their children. Though they lack an extensive academic background, which places their children at risk for low education, their positive attitude manifested in daily pro-educational behaviors overcomes their low education level because they both motivate their children to pursue academic success and participate in their children’s learning. The best way to capitalize on immigrant parents’ educational drive for their children is to partner with them—either through an intervention program or through early childhood educators’ interaction with parents—by showing them how their participation in their children’s learning through concrete activities (such as regular mother–child conversation, daily reading, and playtime activities that teach developmental skills) may increase their chances of achieving academic success.

Family emotional climate, attachment security and young children's emotion knowledge in a high risk sample

Despite its prevalence in low‐income populations, there has been little attention paid to how maternal depression influences mother–child conversations about emotions and low‐income preschool children's developing emotion understanding. The importance of a secure attachment as a positive influence on emotion understanding has also been infrequently studied in lower‐income families. This longitudinal study examined attachment security and maternal depression when children were age 2 as predictors of mother–child references to emotion in conversations, and children's emotion understanding when children were three. Maternal depression at age 2, but not at age 3, showed a direct, negative relation to children's emotion understanding at age 3, independent of mother–child references to emotion and attachment security. More securely attached dyads made more references to emotion in conversation, which, in turn, promoted children's emotion understanding. It was concluded that secure attachment relationships support children's emotion understanding by promoting mother–child discussion of emotions, while emotion understanding in preschoolers is directly impaired by maternal depression.

Development of Displaced Speech in Early Mother–Child Conversations

This study documents the development of symbolic, spatial, and temporal displacement of toddler's speech. Fifty-six children and their mothers were observed longitudinally 5 times from 18 to 30 months of age during a staged communication play while they engaged in scenes that encouraged interacting, requesting, and commenting and scenes that explicitly focused on the past and the future. Reliably coded transcripts revealed that toddlers highlighted symbols at a high and stable rate and that over time they became less focused on the here and now and more focused on internal states. The greatest expansion was into the near future. Only in scenes designed to discuss the past and future did conversations turn to the past and expand spatially beyond here.

The Development of Future Time Concepts Through Mother-Child Conversation

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.

Working Together to Make Sense of the Past: Mothers' and Children's Use of Internal States Languagein Conversations about Traumaticand Nontraumatic Events

Mother-child conversations about a devastating tornado and about 2 nontraumatic events were examined to determine whether there were (a) differences in use of internal states language when talking about traumatic and nontraumatic events and (b) similarities in mothers' and children's use of internal states language. At Session 1, which took place 4 months after the tornado, with conversational length controlled, there was no evidence of differential use of internal states language as a function of event for mothers or children. At Session 2, which took place 6 months later (10 months after the tornado), older children's narratives about the tornado were more saturated with internal states language, relative to their narratives about nontornado events. For both the traumatic and the nontraumatic events, there were cross-lagged correlations between maternal use of emotion language at Session 1 and children's use of emotion language at Session 2. The pattern of findings is consistent with the suggestion that mother-child conversations are one context for the socialization of language about emotional experiences.

Emotion Talk in Mother-Child Conversations of the Shared Past:The Effects of Culture, Gender, and Event Valence

We examined how mother-child emotional reminiscing is affected by culture, gender, and the valence of the event. Thirty-one Euro-American and 30 Chinese middle-class mothers and their 3-year-old children discussed 1 highly positive and 1 highly negative experience. Mothers and children in both cultures used a greater variety of negative emotion words than positive emotion words and were more likely to confirm a shared emotional perspective when discussing the positive event but to negotiate emotion when discussing the negative event. Moreover, Chinese dyads used more negative emotion words overall than did Euro-American dyads but Euro-American dyads engaged in more negotiations of emotion than did Chinese dyads. Surprisingly, there were no effects of gender. Implications of these findings for emotional socialization are discussed.

Mother–Child Conversations of Emotionally Salient Events: Exploring the Functions of Emotional Reminiscing in European‐American and Chinese Families

AbstractThis study explores the functional variations in mother–child conversations of emotionally salient events in European‐American and Chinese families. Thirty Chinese and 31 European‐American 3‐year‐old children and their mothers participated. Mothers were asked to discuss with their children at home two specific one‐point‐in‐time events in which they both participated. One event was extremely positive to the child, one extremely stressful. American mothers initiated more interactive and elaborative conversations that focused on the child's roles and predilections in the story, and they employed a ‘cognitive approach’ to emotional regulation by providing explanations for the cause of children's feeling states. Chinese mothers took a directive role in posing and repeating memory questions and focusing on social interaction, and they used a ‘behavioral approach’ to emotional regulation by emphasizing discipline and proper conduct to their children. Findings are discussed in light of cultural influences on the functions of emotional reminiscing for self and relationship construction and emotional regulation.

Mother-child conversation during joint picture book reading in Japan and the USA

This study compared the sequential structure of mother-child conversation during joint picture book reading in Japanese and American dyads with children between 12 and 27 months. Although there were commonalities such as increased maternal elaborative information-asking in response to children’s labelling with children’s vocabulary growth, there were substantial differences. Japanese children produced labelling following maternal labelling more than American children, while American children produced labelling following information-asking more than Japanese children. Japanese mothers responded to children’s labelling with interpersonal utterances more than American mothers, while American mothers responded to labelling with elaborative information-asking more than Japanese mothers. Interaction in American dyads generally followed an instruction model, while interaction in Japanese dyads reflected aspects of an osmosis model.