Parent-child Conversations Research Articles

Phonological whole-word measures in bilingual Arabic-English speaking children

ABSTRACT This study investigated phonological whole-word measures in bilingual Arabic-English speakers to explore how the target approximations influence children’s phonological development. To this end, fifteen bilingual Arabic-English speakers and nine monolingual Arabic-speaking children aged 36–48 months (mean = 42) participated in a parent–child conversation. The study calculated four measures: the phonological mean length of utterance (PMLU), the proportion of whole-word proximity (PWP), the proportion of whole-word correctness (PWC), and the percentage consonant accuracy (PCC). The findings revealed significant differences in each measure between bilinguals and monolinguals. It seems that bilinguals’ lower scores resulted from a decreased rate of language exposure, but not because of slow language acquisition and development.

Developing Concepts of Authenticity: Insights From Parents' and Children's Conversations About Historical Significance.

The present study investigated children's understanding that an object's history may increase its significance, an appreciation that underpins the concept of historical authenticity (i.e., the idea that an item's history determines its true identity, beyond its functional or material qualities, leading people to value real items over copies or fakes). We examined the development of historical significance through the lens of parent-child conversations, and children's performance on an authenticity assessment. The final sample was American, 79.2% monoracial White, and mid-high socio-economic status (SES) and included 48 parent-child pairs: 24 with younger children (R=3.5 to 4.5 years) and 24 with older children (R=5.5 to 6.5 years). Parent-child pairs discussed three books we created, with three storylines: a museum (culturally authentic) storyline, a clean-up (personally authentic) storyline, and a control storyline. Across measures, conversations suggested that authenticity may begin as a "placeholder concept" that is initially rooted in a broad appreciation for the significance of old objects and only later filled in with specifics. This placeholder initially directs children's learning about authenticity by linking, in an unspecified way, the value and significance of objects to their past. For example, we found that young children appropriately appealed to history (vs. perceptual or functional features of objects) in contexts regarding authentic objects but struggled in determining which objects were more significant on the post-test assessment, suggesting that they attend to object history but are not yet sure how histories matter for making authenticity judgments. We also found some evidence that directing children's attention toward conceptual information related to object history may in turn direct them away from material or perceptual considerations, as seen in trade-offs in parents' and children's conversations. Together, this exploratory report offers many new avenues for work on the development of authenticity concepts in childhood.

Who’s to blame? How subtle negative messages about outgroups contribute to ethnic prejudice development in middle to late childhood

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that parents’ and children’s ethnic prejudice are related to one another. However, little is known about the specific parental practices that facilitate the intergenerational transmission of prejudice. Using a novel measure, we examined how everyday parent-child conversations about the ambiguous behaviors of others (e.g. behaviors open to multiple interpretations) may contribute to children’s ethnic prejudice development. The sample consisted of 249 pairs of mothers and children (aged 6 to 10 years) from the Netherlands with ethnically diverse backgrounds. In line with previous developmental findings, our results reveal that older children exhibit lower ethnic prejudice. Noticeably, however, we find that higher mothers’ subtle negative messages about outgroup members’ behaviors are significantly related to children’s higher ethnic prejudice. These findings did not differ by ethnic background. These results highlight the importance of examining how seemingly innocuous conversations may contribute to children’s ethnic prejudice development.

Child Maltreatment and Self-rated Health: Mediating Effect of Parent–child Conversation and Moderating Effect of Gender

ABSTRACT Child maltreatment seriously affects children’s psychological and social well-being, as well as their physical health. The study aimed to explore the impact of violence experienced by children on their self-rated health. It also examined whether this effect is mediated by parent–child conversations and whether it varies based on the child’s gender. The study was based on the Child Victim Survey of 2013 (FSD2943) in Finland. Mediation and moderation models were tested. According to the analyses, violence experienced by a child at the hands of their parents weakened the parent–child relationship, which, in turn, negatively impacted the child’s self-rated health. Further, the higher the frequency of experienced violence, the more negative are the health consequences. However, girls had stronger negative health consequences as a result of low frequency of violence than boys. Social workers should pay particular attention to the dynamics within the family when assessing the possibility of child maltreatment.

Early Parental Knowledge and Parent-Child Conversations Promote Preschool Language Skills: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ObjectiveThis randomized controlled trial examined the long-term impact of the 3Ts-HV intervention on preschool-aged children’s language skills through promoting parental knowledge and parent-child conversational turns during toddlerhood among families from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds, controlling for parental education level, parental language skills, and child’s age. MethodsNinety two parent-toddler dyads of low socioeconomic status were randomized to receive either the 3Ts-HV intervention (n = 46) or Healthy Lifestyle control (n = 46) curriculum from 14 to 20 months. Parental language skills were assessed at 14 months; parental knowledge was assessed at 14 and 26 months; parent-child conversational turn count was assessed at 14 and 38 months; children’s language skills were assessed at 50 months. ResultsA significant serial mediation effect (β = 0.05, 95% CI [0.002; 0.13]) revealed that the 3Ts-HV intervention increased parental knowledge at 26 months, contributed to more frequent parent-child conversational turns at 38 months, and in turn promoted children’s language skills at 50 months. ConclusionsThe present study provides empirical evidence illustrating the underlying longitudinal processes from increasing parental knowledge and enriching parent-child linguistic interactions during toddlerhood, to promoting children’s language development at preschool age. These findings point to a significant path to supporting families who face socioeconomic challenges early in life to promote equity in children’s early language experiences and narrow disparities in children’s developmental outcomes.

Predictors and Implications of Parents’ Beliefs About the Age Appropriateness of LGBTQ+ Topics for Children

U.S. policies increasingly limit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or another marginalized gender identity or sexual orientation (LGBTQ +) education topics for children under the guise of age-appropriate curriculum, placing the responsibility of educating children about LGBTQ + identities and experiences on parents. We examined parents’ beliefs about the age-appropriateness of LGBTQ + topics for children, with implications for parent–child conversations and support for restricted LGBTQ + curriculum. In two studies, LGBTQ + and cisgender-heterosexual parents’ (N = 837) belief that LGBTQ + topics are age-appropriate for children at an older age was related to fewer parent–child conversations about LGBTQ + topics and greater anticipated discomfort having such conversations (Studies 1 and 2). Counter to hypotheses, exposure to restrictive LGBTQ + education policies did not affect age-appropriateness beliefs (Studies 1 and 2). In line with hypotheses, parents’ belief that sexual orientation discussion should be minimized was associated with later age-appropriateness beliefs and greater support for restricting LGBTQ + curriculum (cisgender-heterosexual parents; Study 2). These studies highlight age-appropriateness beliefs as a key mechanism hindering critical parent–child LGBTQ + conversations.

How mothers talk to their children about failure, mistakes and setbacks is related to their children's fear of failure.

Many people fear failure and making mistakes. This fear can be transmitted from parents to children, suggesting that parental communication regarding failures and setbacks may play a critical role in shaping a child's perception of mistakes. In this study, we investigated how everyday parent-child conversations about setbacks influence children's fear of making mistakes. Drawing on the large pre-birth Growing Up in New Zealand cohort, we focused on a sub-sample of 231 mother-child dyads who engaged in a recorded conversations about a "recent disappointment or setback" when the children were 8 years old. Conversations between mothers and children about the recent disappointments were coded to identify whether parents recognised or acknowledge their child's emotional response, if action plans were discussed, and the types of resources that the child could draw on. The children also completed a questionnaire about their global self-worth and their fear of making mistakes. The discussion of clear action plans, in the absence of a discussion about collaborative resources, was found to be associated with an increased fear of making mistakes among children. Conversely, when mothers clearly acknowledged their child's emotions and discussed ways to work collaboratively with their child on future problems, there was a notable decrease in the child's fear of mistakes. However, it is noteworthy that many mothers in our study either minimally acknowledged or dismissed their child's emotions(40%), rarely discussed action plans (55%), or collaborative resources (79%)when discussing the recent setback.

Barriers and recommendations for parent-child conversations about pornography.

Parents consistently report being worried about the impact of online pornography on their adolescent and pre-adolescent children's development. Yet, most parents do not discuss pornography as part of parent-child conversations about sexuality. The current study sought to identify the barriers to parent-child conversations about pornography. We present two studies. The first study employed one-to-one interviews to explore parents' (n = 14) beliefs about their role in their child's pornography education. The second study involved the quantitative assessment of Study 1 findings in a sample of parents of pre-adolescent and adolescent children (n = 408). Findings indicate that three overarching themes prevent parents from addressing pornography with their adolescent children, parents' practical ability to discuss pornography, their attitudes toward discussing pornography, and the perceived positive impact of addressing pornography with their adolescent children. Practical ability was most often reported as the greatest barrier to parents engaging in parent-child conversations about pornography. Most notably, parents reported hesitancy in discussing pornography because they did not know how to define pornography or how to address pornography in an age-appropriate way. Fathers were also significantly less likely to believe that talking about pornography was socially acceptable. We discuss the implications of these findings and present recommendations for developing a parents' pornography education resource.

White parents' racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children's pro-white biases.

Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White U.S. children's racial biases, little work has tested their influence. We designed a guided racism discussion task for U.S. White parents and their 8-12-year-old White children. We explored whether children's and parents' (a) pro-White implicit biases changed pre to postconversation, (b) racial socialization messages (color conscious, external attributions for prejudiced behavior and colorblind racial ideology [CBRI]) predicted changes in each other's implicit biases, and (c) associations varied by the type of racism (subtle vs. blatant) discussed. Children's and parents' biases significantly declined, pre to postdiscussion. Parents' color conscious messages predicted greater declines and messages reflecting CBRI and external attributions predicted smaller declines in children's bias. These patterns were observed during discussions of subtle, but not blatant bias. Effects of children's messages on parents' bias were mixed. Our findings suggest that color conscious parent-child discussions may effectively reduce implicit pro-White bias in White children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

An Exploration of the Environmental Setting Mothers and Early Adolescent Youth Prefer to Have Conversations About Daily Stressors

Parent-child conversations are impacted by environmental setting. Yet, few studies have considered where mothers and early adolescent youth prefer to have conversations about daily stressors. This study examines where mothers and youth prefer to have conversations about daily stressors, differences in preference based on demographic variables, and why certain environmental settings are preferred. One hundred youth ( M = 11.04, 53% boys) and their mothers participated in semi-structured interviews. Findings showed that youth preferred to communicate in their bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room, whereas mothers preferred the kitchen, their child’s bedroom, and the car. Using thematic analysis, we found that participants preferred communicating in physically and psychologically comfortable environments, private locations that were away from others, and that they relied on bedtime and mealtime routines to engage in regular conversations. Findings suggest that the place mothers and youth converse matters and may meaningfully impact parent-child conversations about daily stressors.

Money talks! The role of parents’ discussion of money for preschoolers’ math knowledge

Children’s participation in cultural, everyday practices and social interactions involving math and money can contribute to the development of their knowledge and skills in these domains. Further work is needed to uncover what features of these activities, such as aspects of the conversations that may occur (e.g., number and money talk), facilitate and/or are shaped by children’s understanding of money concepts and skills. The present study examined the extent to which parents engaged in conversations about numbers and money with their four-year-old children during pretend grocery play and the relations to children’s math skills. We found that talk about price labeling and exchanging currency or goods occurred most frequently and that money and number talk were not significantly related to children’s broader math skills. However, parents’ money talk was positively associated with children’s money-related math skills, and this association was driven by the co-occurrence of talk about money and numbers. Our results suggest that parent-child conversations in familiar contexts such as grocery shopping provide rich opportunities to discuss culturally relevant practices surrounding money and practice math skills in the context of monetary exchanges. Thus, it is critical to consider how existing family practices and everyday contexts support children’s early math learning.

Emotion talk in parent–child conversations about past emotions in low-income families

ABSTRACT This study analysed the total words and emotion words, narrative styles, and narrative content of low-income parent–child conversations about past emotions in Taiwan. We recruited 38 low-income parents and their children (20 boys and 18 girls); the parents were recorded in their homes as they discussed past events with their children. The average age of the children was 72 months. The results highlighted the absence of gender differences in the number of words, narrative styles, and narrative content in the low-income parent–child emotion talk. The parents favoured a low-elaborative style with minimal conversational turns. Our analysis revealed that the physical discipline of low-income parents was a notable emotional theme prompting negative emotions, particularly anger, in children. In terms of emotional resolution, the parents in our sample did not provide moral lessons; moreover, when managing children’s negative emotions, these parents did not adopt resolution, reassurance, or reestablishment strategies.

The relationships between screen exposure, parent-child interactions and comprehension in 8-month-old infants: The mediating role of shared viewing and parent-child conversation.

To explore the relationships between screen exposure, parent-child interactions and comprehension in 8-month-old infants, and to examine whether shared viewing and parent-child conversation during screen exposure may play mediating role in that relationships. The sample included 437 infants aged 8 months from the Children's Health Department of Guiyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital during January 2022 to February 2023. The use of electronic screen devices was assessed using a screen exposure questionnaire. The Brigance Parent-child interactions Scale was used to assess parent-child interactions and the Putonghua Communicative Development Inventory (PCDI) scale was used to assess infants' word comprehension. 48.7% of infants were found to be using screens 1-2 days per week. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the PCDI-comprehension scores of screen-exposed infants compared to non-screen-exposed infants. Shared viewing and parent-child conversation during screen exposure were positively associated with parent-child interactions (p < 0.05). Mediation analysis revealed that parent-child conversation fully mediated between screen exposure and PCDI-comprehension, but partially mediated between parent-child interactions and PCDI-comprehension. Shared viewing and parent-child conversation during screen exposure may mediate between screen exposure and comprehension development. Shared viewing, parent-child conversation and parent-child interactions may be protective factors for screen exposure in comprehension development. Suggests that parents should accompany and communicate with their children when they use electronic screen devices to reduce the negative impact of screen exposure on children's comprehension.

Do Parents Have “The Talk” or Believe They Should?: Parent–Child Conversations About Interacting with the Police

Do Parents Have “The Talk” or Believe They Should?: Parent–Child Conversations About Interacting with the Police

Toddler negative affectivity and effortful control: Relations with parent-toddler conversation engagement and indirect effects on language

Evidence that early parent-child conversation supports early language development suggests a need to understand factors that account for individual differences in parent-child conversation engagement. Whereas most studies focus on demographic factors, we investigated the role of toddler temperament in a longitudinal study of 120 economically strained families. Specifically, we investigated the degree to which toddlers’ negative affectivity and effortful control, considered together as a composite reflecting challenging temperament, accounted for variability in parent-toddler conversation engagement, and whether the frequency of that engagement mediated associations between toddler temperament and toddler expressive language skills. Toddler challenging temperament (i.e., high negative affectivity and low effortful control) and parent-toddler conversation engagement were measured at 18 and 30 months. Toddler expressive language skills were measured at 18, 24, and 36 months. As expected, a path model indicated inverse relations between toddler challenging temperament and concurrent parent-toddler conversation engagement at both 18 and 30 months. Unexpectedly, there were no direct associations between toddler challenging temperament and toddler expressive language skills either concurrently or longitudinally. However, we found indirect effects of toddler challenging temperament on later toddler expressive language skills via parent-toddler conversation engagement. Findings highlight the importance of considering toddler temperamental characteristics in addition to family demographics as important factors that account for variability in parent-toddler conversation engagement.

How is preschoolers' memory performance related to parental elaboration during reminiscence?

AbstractThe influence of parental reminiscing style – how parents discuss past events with their child – on preschoolers' independent memory skills (outside of parent–child conversations) and the processes involved in this effect (memory consolidation vs. development of strategies) is far from clear. To test this, 50 parent–child dyads (MChildAge = 52.12) were recruited. Parents' level of elaboration during reminiscing was measured while children completed tasks assessing their memories about two standardized events, one they had discussed with their parent and one they had not discussed, and an episodic task requiring the memorization of new information. Children of high‐elaborative parents performed better than children of low‐elaborative parents on the recognition test for the non‐discussed event and for the episodic memory task. This suggests that parental elaboration is related to preschoolers' independent memory skills and that its effect might exceed memory consolidation and depend on processes like the acquisition of strategies.

The impact of household pets on children's daily lives: Differences in parent-child conversations and implications for children's emotional development.

Living with a pet is related to a host of socioemotional health benefits for children, yet few studies have examined the mechanisms that drive the relations between pet ownership and positive socioemotional outcomes. The current study examined one of the ways that pets may change the environment through which children learn and whether childhood pet ownership might promote empathy and prosocial behavior through parent-child conversations about emotions and mental states in the presence of a pet dog. Participants included 123 parent (118 mothers, four fathers) and child (65 female, 58 male, Mage = 39.50 months, 75 White, not Hispanic, nine Asian/Pacific Islander, seven Hispanic, five Black/African American, two South Asian/Indian, two American Indian/Alaska Native, two "other," 21 more than one race, 111 residing in the United States) dyads currently living with a pet dog (n = 61) or having never lived with a pet dog (n = 62). As hypothesized, we found that parents used a greater proportion of emotion and mental state language with their children when playing with their pet dog than with a lifelike toy, suggesting that the presence of a household pet may be one context used to promote conversations about emotions and mental states. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

"Oh no! What happened?" an investigation of parent-child conversations about self-conscious emotions.

Parents play an important role in socializing children's emotion understanding. Previous research shows that parents emphasize different aspects of emotion contexts depending on the discrete emotion. However, there is limited research on how parents and children discuss self-conscious emotions, such as embarrassment, guilt, and shame, and what socialization practices parents employ to elicit children's talk about these emotions. In this study, children (N = 166, 78 females, 88 males) ages 2-3 years (M = 2.46, SD = 0.26) and their parents (65.5% White, 10.2% Black, 17.5% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian American, and 5.4% other) from a large city in the Western United States discussed a wordless storybook depicting different female and male characters experiencing self-conscious emotions (embarrassment, guilt, shame, awe, and pride). Parents' and children's emotion talk and parents' questions were coded from their conversations about each emotion scenario and subsequently analyzed by discrete emotion, child gender, and the depicted character's gender. Parents and children differentially focused on different aspects of each self-conscious emotion as a function of discrete emotion and picture gender, and elements of children's talk about self-conscious emotions were related to children's expressive language and age. Additionally, parents' emotion talk and questions about emotions were directly related to children's emotion talk, even after controlling for children's age, expressive language, and parental education. Taken together, these findings suggest that parent-child emotion conversations may be one context that facilitates the development of children's understanding of self-conscious emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Timing the Talks: Exploring Children’s Ages at Parent-Child Conversations About Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Various Sexual Behaviors

Timing the Talks: Exploring Children’s Ages at Parent-Child Conversations About Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Various Sexual Behaviors

Parent–child play and coping: experiences of parents and young children during the pandemic

ABSTRACT Play can create a safe environment for children to escape from worries. The global COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders were stressful events for young children and families. This case study documents children’s and parents’ play, emotions and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. Five mothers and their young children participated in our study, and we used the Parent Play Preferences Questionnaire (PPPQ), a semi-structured interview, and mother–child tasks for data collection in the Summer of 2020. Findings showed young children’s daily activities and play changed, and both mothers and children experienced various emotions. Children were aware of the precautions taken to protect themselves from COVID-19, and they attempted to keep the play characters safe in their play. Children reported missing friends, school, playgrounds and playing with others. Our study highlights the importance of parent–child conversations and play to cope with unexpected events in children’s lives and captures children’s voices in early childhood education research.