Parent-child Joint Research Articles

Parent-child joint leisure activities during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Parents’ active participation in children’s activities can enhance communication and interaction in the family context, contributing to a positive family climate and healthy child development. This study examined Chinese parent–child joint leisure and media activities from February to May 2022 when COVID-19 restrictions were in place. A total of 1716 parents, forming a convenience sample, were surveyed to determine the frequency of parental participation in three types of joint activities: media, outdoor and artistic. Overall, the parents participated in joint activities once or twice weekly. The frequency of parental participation in joint activities is positively correlated with a positive family climate, indicating the importance of parents’ participation and involvement in joint activities for developing a strong family relationship. Parents’ ow’n text-based media is also positively associated with their frequency of participation in joint activity. Finally, significant differences among various regions in China suggest the influence of different lockdown policies.

Development of the Scale of Parental Playful Attitude During the Co-Occupation of Play

Abstract Importance: There is a need for tools to measure adults’ playfulness in reference to parent–child joint play. Objective: To (1) develop items for the Scale of Parental Playful Attitude (PaPA), (2) evaluate evidence for validity based on content, and (3) evaluate evidence for validity based on the response process. Design: A mixed-methods design with three phases: (1) development of the first draft of the PaPA (based on the literature, focus groups, and semistructured interviews), (2) review by experts and revision of the first draft, and (3) cognitive interviews with parents. Setting: Various (e.g., schools, a university). Participants: Phase 1 had 32 participants: 13 parents of children ages 2.5–6 yr without major diagnosed conditions; 8 parents of autistic children age 4–7 yr; and 11 preschoolers age 3–5 yr. Phase 2 involved 10 experts. Phase 3 had 5 participants: 3 mothers and 2 fathers of children ages 2.5–6 yr; 1 child was autistic. Outcomes and Measures: Interview protocols and experts’ review form. Results: Phase 1 involved the initial item development. Extrinsic motivation and barriers to play emerged as important areas to include. Experts’ review enhanced representation of the construct of playfulness. Content validity index values ranged from .78 to 1.00. Cognitive interviews provided insights into parents’ comprehension of PaPA items. Conclusions and Relevance: Validity related to test content and the response process was supported. Additional sources of validity testing are necessary. Plain-Language Summary: Adult playfulness is critical for both the child and the parent, especially for developing a deeper connection. The Scale of Parental Playful Attitude (PaPA) assesses parents’ self-perceptions of their playfulness when playing with their child. The study authors developed the PaPA (in both English and Spanish) to address a lack of tools for assessing how parents perceive their own playfulness relative to their child’s playfulness. Understanding how parents perceive their own playful attitudes can create opportunities for occupational therapists to guide parents to approach play with an attitude that is as attuned as possible to their child’s playfulness. Future validity studies are needed to support the clinical use of the PaPA.

A systematic review of the benefits and mechanisms of family-based mind-body therapy programs targeting families of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Growing evidence indicates that family-based mind-body therapy programs (FMBTs) act as an important alternative for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treatment in the youth with minimal side-effects. Moreover, FMBTs contribute to improving the family functioning of those affected by ADHD. To summarize and analyze the benefits and mechanisms, an extensive literature search of the EBSCOhost, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases was conducted to identify eligible studies. Fifteen studies published between 2010–2023 were reviewed. The included FMBTs were implemented with 850 children/adolescents and 996 parents/caregivers, of whom 201 parent couples attended the programs together with their children. All included FMBTs adopted mindfulness/meditation as the core practice to enhance the participants’ mental focus and attention, and were designed for long-term engagement, with six including parent–child joint session(s). Positive changes were observed in both children and adolescents, including improvements in ADHD symptoms, behavioral problems, executive function, and school performance. Additionally, parents experienced positive changes in ADHD traits/symptoms, mental health, and parenting behaviors. Furthermore, FMBTs were found to enhance family functioning by delivering mindful strategies to family, restoring psychological capacity and interpersonal skills in family members, and improving parent–child relationships. The reviewed FMBTs demonstrated high levels of feasibility and participant satisfaction. The factors and issues potentially influencing the effectiveness and feasibility of FMBTs are also discussed. The findings indicate that FMBT holds promise as an ADHD treatment option in home settings. Future efforts may focus on optimizing the design of FMBTs to better address the diverse needs of families in varying circumstances.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes in Parent–Child Activities at Home from Spring 2020 to Spring 2021 from a Cross-Cultural View

This study explored young children’s (2–8 years old) daily activities during the first lockdown with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (spring/2020, T1) and a year later (spring/2021, T2) from a cross-cultural perspective. It describes parent–child literacy and digital activities in Bulgaria, Israel, and Spain. Participating parents (747 in T1 and 432 in T2) answered online questionnaires about the frequency of parent–child literacy activities (alphabetic, book reading, and play) and digital activities (joint activities, selecting content, scaffolding) and the child’s screen time. The findings indicated moderate parent–child literacy and digital activities during the time points. A series of ANCOVAs revealed differences between time periods and cultures beyond the demographic measures (child’s age, parent’s education and age, and family size). During the first lockdown, parent–child joint digital activities and the child’s screen time were higher than a year later. A year later, parents were more involved in book reading, literacy play activities, and scaffolding their children’s use of digital devices. Interactions between the period and culture showed that Bulgarian and Spanish parents were more involved in their children’s literacy and digital activities than Israeli parents. Spanish children had more independent screen time than Bulgarian and Israeli children. Associations between literacy and digital activities implied a consistent parenting style across the activities.

Multimodal Approach for Characterizing the Quality of Parent–Child Interaction: A Single Synchronization Source May Not Tell the Whole Story

The interaction between the parent and child is essential for the child's cognitive and emotional development and sets the path for future well-being. These interactions, starting from birth, are necessary for providing the sensory stimulation the child needs in the critical time window of brain development. The characterization of parent-child interactions is traditionally performed by human decoding. This approach is considered the leading and most accurate way of characterizing the quality of these interactions. However, the development of computational tools and especially the concept of parent-child synchronization opened up an additional source of data characterizing these interactions in an objective, less human-labor manner. Such sources include brain-to-brain, voice/speech, eye contact, motor, and heart-rate synchronization. However, can a single source synchronization dataset accurately represent parent-child interaction? Will attending to the same stimulation, often resulting in a higher brain-to-brain synchronization, be considered an interactive condition? In this perspective, we will try to convey a new concept of the child-parent interaction synchronization (CHIPS) matrix, which includes the different sources of signals generated during an interaction. Such a model may assist in explaining the source of interaction alterations in the case of child/parent developmental/emotional or sensory deficits and may open up new ways of assessing interventions and changes in parent-child interactions along development. We will discuss this interaction during one of the parent-child joint activities providing opportunities for interaction, i.e., storytelling.

Early language outcomes in Argentinean toddlers: Associations with home literacy, screen exposure and joint media engagement.

This study aimed to analyse the contribution of mothers' home literacy beliefs and practices and the quantity and quality of screen media exposure on Argentinean toddler's language. In addition, we considered parent-child joint engagement, as well as adult scaffolding behaviours during the use of electronic devices. A total of 465 mothers of 18-36 months old children completed an online survey including: the MacArthur Bates CDI, home literacy, screen exposure, joint engagement and scaffolding questionnaires. We observed positive effects of literacy beliefs, PC times and verbal scaffolding on language outcomes. TV exposure contributed negatively to vocabulary and, along with educational content, to sentence use. Shared reading and screen media experiences can be an opportunity for language stimulation, provided there is dialogue and joint engagement. Passive screen exposure and inadequate content may be detrimental for toddlers' language outcomes, probably by displacement of socially significant interactions.

Parent-Child Joint Behaviors in Novel Object Play Create High-Quality Datafor Word Learning.

This research takes a dyadic approach to study early word learning and focuses on toddlers' (N=20, age: 17-23months) information seeking and parents' information providing behaviors and the ways the two are coupled in real-time parent-child interactions. Using head-mounted eye tracking, this study provides the first detailed comparison of children's and their parents' behavioral and attentional patterns in two free-play contexts: one with novel objects with to-be-learned names (Learning condition) and the other with familiar objects with known names (Play condition). Children and parents in the Learning condition modified their individual and joint behaviors when encountering novel objects with to-be-learned names, which created clearer signals that reduced referential ambiguity and potentially facilitated word learning.

Examining joint parent-child interactions involving infants and toddlers when introducing mobile technology

Research suggests that parents play a critical role in introducing technology to their young children and that parent-child joint engagement with technology can improve learning and social outcomes. The present mixed-methods study extends the current literature by directly observing the interactions of 30 parents with their infant or toddler child (ages 12–24 months) while introducing and engaging with familiar and novel mobile technologies. Qualitative analysis of observations yielded five overarching themes that described key content of parent-child interactions. Subthemes further clarified the types of verbal interactions of the child and of the parent, as well as issues of control over the device, activities and selection choices, skill needs/supports, and interest in the interactions. Developmental milestones and parental surveys contributed to the understanding of developmental change and family media use. Familiarity with the device influenced frequencies of identified themes with greater likelihood for fewer interactions, scaffolds and more passive screen activities with familiar technology. More varied verbal scaffolding was related to higher developmental scores. Physical scaffolding was provided infrequently, despite limited skill in the children. Counter to parental expectations, initiating and sustaining interest even for a short period of time was challenging in some cases. Outcomes suggest that parents engage in a wide array of relevant scaffolds with variability across individuals and child age. Overall, the study provides a rich and complex description of interactions and behaviors when parents introduce mobile devices to their infants and toddlers.

Parent-child joint reading of digital books in bilingual families in Malta

We examined parent-child shared reading of Maltese and English e-books in four bilingual families. Analysis of the participant videos, questionnaires and semi-structured interview data revealed positive engagement of the participating families, substantiated with three main themes from the participants’ interview accounts: balanced use of e-books and print books, the importance of nurturing child's independence with e-book use, and the unique value of e-books for child's learning, especially in terms of repetition. A theoretically-driven analysis of the video data placed the e-books’ affordances in relation to six facets of children's individual engagement (personalized, sustained, shared, creative, affective and interactive), but it needed to be expanded with four additional facets of parent-child joint engagement (didactic, dialogical, self-directed and experiential).

Museum program design supports parent–child engineering talk during tinkering and reminiscing

This study focused on tinkering, a playful form of open-ended problem solving that is being widely adopted in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education as a way of encouraging children’s engagement in disciplinary practices of engineering. Nevertheless, the design of exhibits and programs and the nature of children’s interactions with adults can determine whether and to what extent tinkering engenders participation in engineering practices such as testing and redesign. Researchers and museum practitioners worked together using design-based research methods to develop and test tinkering programs that could best support engineering learning. Two of the programs specified what families’ engineering projects should do and provided exhibit spaces for testing and iterating the design (i.e., function-focused programs), and two programs did not. A total of 61 families with 6- to 8-year-old children (Mage = 7.07 years; 25 female) were observed during one of the programs and when reminiscing immediately after tinkering. Parent–child interaction patterns associated with understanding and remembering events—parent–child joint hands-on engagement and joint talk—and engineering design process talk were measured. All four programs were similar in terms of parent–child joint engagement. Compared with families who did not participate in function-focused programs, families who did talked more about the engineering design process during tinkering and when reminiscing. Parent–child engineering talk during tinkering mediated the association between the program design and engineering talk when reminiscing. Implications for research on children’s learning and museum practice are discussed.

Parent-child joint media engagement in infancy.

Early conversations are an important source in shaping children's cognitive and emotional development, and it is vital to understand how parents use media as a platform to engage in conversations with their young children and what might predict the quality of these interactions. Thus, in the current study we explored the nature of parent-child discourse while engaging in media (i.e., joint media engagement) with infants, and how parent (empathic concern and responsiveness) and child (negative emotionality and regulatory capacity) variables might be associated with the quality of engagement. The current study consisted of 269 infants (50% female, Mage =17.09months, SD=3.93; 59% White) and their primary caregiver (98% mothers) who engaged in a variety of in-home tasks and parental questionnaires. Results established three meaningful codes for both parent and child that assessed positive and negative joint media engagement. Further, results suggested that parental empathic concern was associated with positive parent and child media engagement, while child negative emotionality was associated with lower levels of distraction. Discussion focuses on the importance of studying parent-child discourse in the context of joint media engagement and recommends limiting media exposure before 18months of age.

Parent–child joint reading is related to an increased fixation time on print during storytelling among preschool children

Print exposure in early childhood is related to linguistic skills such as oral language, reading comprehension and spelling during school years. A common way of exposing preschool children to print is during joint storytelling. Research has shown that total fixation time on print during storytelling is between 2% and 6% of the total fixation time on the book and is a function of the child’s age. What has yet to be determined, however, are differences, if any, in child fixation time on print during parent vs. experimenter joint storytelling. Here, we examined the effect of parent vs. experimenter storytelling–reading on fixation time on print among 4–6-year-old preschoolers. Specifically, we used an eye-tracking device to compare the fixation time percentage on print while the parent vs. an experimenter were reading a story to the child. Preschoolers fixated more on print when their parent was reading a story to them vs. the experimenter. Positive correlations between fixation time on print and linguistic skills and processing speed were found. Results suggest that joint storytelling with a parent promotes print awareness, an important factor in developing literacy and reading skills, and thus further emphasizes the importance of parent–child joint storytelling.

Embedding Scientific Explanations Into Storybooks Impacts Children's Scientific Discourse and Learning.

Children’s understanding of unobservable scientific entities largely depends on testimony from others, especially through parental explanations that highlight the mechanism underlying a scientific entity. Mechanistic explanations are particularly helpful in promoting children’s conceptual understanding, yet they are relatively rare in parent–child conversations. The current study aimed to increase parent–child use of mechanistic conversation by modeling this language in a storybook about the mechanism of electrical circuits. We also examined whether an increase in mechanistic conversation was associated with science learning outcomes, measured at both the dyadic- and child-level. In the current study, parents and their 4- to 5-year-old children (N = 60) were randomly assigned to read a book containing mechanistic explanations (n = 32) or one containing non-mechanistic explanations (n = 28). After reading the book together, parent–child joint understanding of electricity’s mechanism was tested by asking the dyad to assemble electrical components of a circuit toy so that a light would turn on. Finally, child science learning outcomes were examined by asking children to assemble a novel circuit toy and answer comprehension questions to gauge their understanding of electricity’s mechanism. Results indicate that dyads who read storybooks containing mechanistic explanations were (1) more successful at completing the circuit (putting the pieces together to make the light turn on) and (2) used more mechanistic language than dyads assigned to the non-mechanistic condition. Children in the mechanistic condition also had better learning outcomes, but only if they engaged in more mechanistic discourse with their parent. We discuss these results using a social interactionist framework to highlight the role of input and interaction for learning. We also highlight how these results implicate everyday routines such as book reading in supporting children’s scientific discourse and understanding.

Psycho diagnostic techniques for the study of parent-child relationships as a tool of psychological counseling

The article presents the experience of using the projective technique “Parent essay” and tests for assessment parent-child joint activity. Indicators for assessing the parental attitudes and parent-child relationships are presented. A scheme for drawing up a conclusion is presented, highlighting the main blocks describing the parenting and parent-child relationships

Parent-Toddler Social Reciprocity During Reading From Electronic Tablets vs Print Books

Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parent-child joint engagement with digital media, recent evidence suggests this may be challenging when tablets contain interactive enhancements. To examine parent-toddler social reciprocity while reading enhanced (eg, with sound effects, animation) and basic tablet-based books compared with print books. This within-participants comparison included 37 parent-toddler dyads in a counterbalanced crossover, video-recorded laboratory design at the University of Michigan from May 31 to November 7, 2017. The volunteer sample was recruited from an online research registry and community sites. Dyads included children aged 24 to 36 months with no developmental delay or serious medical condition, parents who were the legal guardians and read English sufficiently for consent, and parents and children without uncorrected hearing or vision impairments. Data were analyzed from October 18, 2017, through April 30, 2018. Reading an enhanced tablet-based book, a basic tablet-based book, and a print book in counterbalanced order for 5 minutes each. Video recordings were coded continuously for nonverbal aspects of parent-toddler social reciprocity, including body position (child body posture limiting parental book access coded in 10-second intervals), control behaviors (child closing the book, child grabbing the book or tablet, parent or child pivoting their body away from the other), and intrusive behaviors (parent or child pushing the other's hand away). Coding intracorrelation coefficients were greater than 0.75. Poisson regression was used to compare each outcome by book format. Among the 37 parent-child dyads, mean (SD) parent age was 33.5 (4.0) years; 30 (81%) were mothers, and 28 (76%) had a 4-year college degree or greater educational attainment. Mean (SD) age of children was 29.2 (4.2) months, 20 (54%) were boys, 21 (57%) were white non-Hispanic, and 6 (16%) were black non-Hispanic. Compared with print books, greater frequency of child body posture limiting parental book access (mean [SD], 7.9 [1.9; P = .01] for enhanced; 8.4 [1.8; P = .006] for basic), child closing the book (mean [SD], 1.2 [0.4; P = .007] for enhanced; 1.2 [0.5; P < .001] for basic), parent pivoting (mean [SD], 0.4 [0.2; P = .05] for enhanced; 0.9 [0.4; P = .004] for basic), child pushing parent's hand (mean [SD], 0.6 [0.2; P < .001] for enhanced; 0.4 [0.2; P = .002] for basic), and parent pushing child's hand (mean [SD], 1.7 [0.3; P < .001] for enhanced; 2.4 [0.5; P < .001] for basic) occurred while reading enhanced and basic tablet-based books. Child pivots occurred more frequently while reading basic tablet-based books than print (mean [SD], 1.0 [0.3] vs 0.3 [0.1]; P = .005). In this study, toddlers and parents engaged in more frequent social control behaviors and less social reciprocity when reading tablet-based vs print books. These findings suggest that toddlers may have difficulty engaging in shared tablet experiences with their parents.

Fostering a Culture of Reading with Wordless Picturebooks in a South African Context

AbstractThere exists an abundance of literature on the use of wordless picturebooks in literacy development, yet very little research exists on their use in the South African context. South Africa is facing what researchers have referred to as a ‘national crisis of reading’. Only 5 per cent of parents read with their children, as a result, many children are not exposed to books or book‐sharing activities prior to entering formal school. Despite the acknowledgement and acceptance of the importance of mother tongue education, especially in Foundation Phase, there still exists a lack of indigenous language picturebooks for young readers. The article reports on the findings of an exploratory study in which wordless picturebooks were used in parent–child joint reading. By moving the reading environment from a community centre or daycare to participant homes, the main aim was to determine the perceptions of the parents or primary caregivers and children that participated in the programme regarding the value of utilising wordless picturebooks in their homes. The research sought to gain an understanding of how wordless picturebooks could assist in ensuring that literacy‐poor families are supported as a child's first educator. We argue that wordless picturebooks warrant further investigation in the South African context, as key findings indicated that they can be viewed as a valuable tool in fostering a culture of reading in the South African context.

Maternal literate mediation of writing and Korean children’s reading and writing across 1 year

The present study examined the relations of maternal literate support instructions during parent–child joint writing to children’s word reading and writing across 1 year among 95 4- and 5-year-old children from Korea. The whole episode of mothers individually teaching their children how to write words was videotaped, and a Korean scale of mothers’ literate mediation of their children’s writing was developed based on six cognitive strategies focusing on whole Gulja (Korean written syllable), visual strokes, letter, Gulja structure, and CV (consonant + vowel) and coda (final consonant of a syllable) subsyllabic units. Maternal literate support explained a significant amount of variance in children’s word reading and writing concurrently and longitudinally across 1 year after controlling for children’s age, nonverbal IQ, phonological and morphological awareness, rapid automatized naming and mother’s education. In addition, children’s coda phoneme awareness explained unique variance in word reading and writing concurrently and longitudinally. Results underscore the unique characteristics of Korean and the importance of Korean maternal literate support as a major factor in early literacy development.

Parent-Child Joint Decision Making on Food Choices and Children's Fruits and Vegetable Consumption

Parent-Child Joint Decision Making on Food Choices and Children's Fruits and Vegetable Consumption

La lectura conjunta y la interacción entre adultos y niños de 3-5 años

Este artículo de revisión reporta los resultados de primera fase de un proyecto de investigación, que realiza una revisión de estudios realizados previamente en torno a la lectura conjunta entre adultos y niños de tres a seis años. Parte de la idea de que la lectura conjunta es la interacción entre el adulto y el niño, donde el primero lee al niño y éste interpreta el lenguaje emitido y leído por el adulto, que es una actividad propia de escenarios de aprendizaje alfabético inicial. La metodología utilizada fue el análisis de contenido de fuentes antiguas (de 1970 a 2002), y de artículos y reportes de investigación de 2002 a 2012, que abordaron el tema desde dos grandes áreas de estudio: el estudio de la lectura conjunta en sí mismo, y el estudio general de la interacción entre niños y adultos. Los resultados de este análisis muestran una focalización de los estudios en tres áreas: factores que inciden en la interacción adulto – niño, tipologías de posibles intercambios comunicativos y lingüísticos entre adulto y niño, y dinámicas de la interacción adulto – niño y su uso intencional en programas de intervención. Se concluye que la interacción adulto - niño que se da en la lectura conjunta parece estar fuertemente mediada por el nivel de desarrollo de enunciados lingüísticos complejos en el niño y por la capacidad del adulto para acomodarse a las respuestas del niño en cada momento, en aras de promover el conocimiento que éste desarrolla con la interacción social enriquecida.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of the A PAR parental intervention programme in Portugal. Child development and parenting support

ABSTRACTThis cross-sectional study attempts to investigate the effects of the Aprender em Parceria (A PAR) programme, an intervention in early childhood education and parenting support in the suburbs of Great Lisbon which aims to increase the educational achievement of disadvantaged children from birth to six-years-old. A quasi-experimental design was used in which children and their families participating in the intervention programme were compared to a comparison group of children who were not participating. The sample consisted of 103 children and their families in the first year (2008), 142 in the second year (2009) and 187 in the third year (2010). Results showed that families and children in the A PAR groups made significantly greater gains in the following areas: social support, pleasure in parenting activities, parent–child joint activities, capacity to interact with their children, able to observe their daily progress, recognise the most important moments of interaction. Children made significant progress in their cognitive and social development.