Toddler Interaction Research Articles

The Relationship between Intensity of Gadget Use and Speech and Language Development in Toddlers

Background : The alpha generation are those born after 2010, who are claimed to be the smartest generation because they were born and grew up in an era of rapid technological and internet development. So that we can find many toddlers who are familiar with gadgets. However, excessive use of gadgets will reduce toddler interaction with the environment and toddlers rarely communicate with people around them, this naturally disrupts the process of toddler speech and language development. Objective: This study aims to analyze the relationship between the intensity of gadget use and the development of speech and language aspects in toddlers in Wameo Village, Baubau City. Method: This study is an observational analytic type with a cross sectional approach. This study used 77 samples taken using purposive sampling technique which were then measured using a questionnaire. Result: The results showed that toddlers who used gadgets with mild intensity experienced normal speech and language development, 10.4% of toddlers who used gadgets with moderate intensity experienced delays, and 33.8% who used gadgets with severe intensity experienced delays. Hypothesis testing using the Chi-Square Test obtained a p-velue value of 0.000 (P <0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, there is a significant relationship between the intensity of gadget use and delayed speech and language development in toddlers in Wameo Village, Baubau City.

Joint attention episodes during interactions with fathers but not mothers at age 2 years is associated with expressive language at 3 years

Joint Attention (JA) in parent–infant interaction has been demonstrated to contribute to infants’ language outcomes. A limited number of studies have investigated the characteristics of JA episodes during parent–toddler interaction in relation to toddlers’ language development. The majority of these studies were conducted with mothers, whereas JA with fathers remains understudied. The current study investigated JA episodes during interactions with mothers and fathers separately as well as longitudinal associations with child language outcomes. A total of 31 toddlers (18 girls) and their mothers and fathers participated in the study at ages 2 years (M = 24.07 months, SD = 1.45) and 3 years (M = 37.44 months, SD = 1.72). JA episodes were observed during free play interactions at age 2 and were coded microanalytically; receptive and expressive language skills were assessed by Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development–Third Edition at ages 2 and 3. No significant differences in JA episodes were found between mother–toddler and father–toddler dyads. Whereas JA characteristics with mothers were not found to be significantly associated with toddlers’ language outcomes, multiple linear regression analyses showed that paternal education and parent-followed JA episodes during father–toddler interaction at age 2 explained a significant amount of variance in toddlers’ expressive language skills at age 3. Findings suggest that JA episodes during interactions with fathers might benefit toddlers’ expressive language development.

Toddlers as social actors in early education

This article focuses on the interaction among young toddlers during their second year of life in a Swedish preschool, with the view of toddlers as social actors. The overall aim is to explore interaction, communication, and the creation of friendship between young children during self-initiated play activities. Play is looked upon as a rich arena for observing toddler interaction. The theoretical framework for the study is phenomenology, the view of the child as a social person and a child-oriented perspective. This article will also address the important concepts of methodology and research ethics, in relation to an ethnographic early childhood study, intended to investigate toddler’s life worlds. A close analysis of their worlds may reveal what was not visible before – like a kaleidoscope. Six one-year-old girls and boys in a setting, in a total of 15 children, were the focus of this study’s observations for nine months. Participatory methods, photos, field notes and video-recordings, were used for the data collection. The findings of the ethnographic study recognise theoretically the competence of the toddler as a social actor, the child as an active participant, and the strategic nonverbal and verbal actions of children to initiate friendship. Mutual awareness, joint attention, shared smiles, coordinated movements, as well as other types of synchronized actions are understood as parts of nonverbal elements in emerging friendship. The competencies of attunement, taking others’ perspectives and turn-taking were found in play among the young toddlers.

The exploration of size and toddler interaction with liquid laundry detergent capsules.

Liquid laundry capsules have been involved in multiple poisoning incidents with young children in the home. There are a range of contributing factors for these incidents, including influences from industry, culture, home environments, and parenting/supervision. There also are influences from children’s behaviour and decisions in reaction to potential hazards. Previous research examined the influence of capsule product appearance and colour on children’s behaviour around hazardous household items, but little research examines the influence of product size. This research explored if differences in the size of liquid laundry capsules result in different levels of toddler interaction. We compared two commercially available capsule designs that are identical in physical appearance but differ in physical size. Our research was conducted using three studies: Study 1, forced-choice test in an out-of-context laboratory setting; Study 2, an ecologically-valid, simulated real-world setting replicating a home laundry cabinet with a container of capsules left open; and Study 3, a second ecologically-valid study replicating a home laundry cabinet, this time with a capsule left outside its container. Capsule interaction was measured by grasping choice among samples of 156 toddlers ages 9–36 months. The same sample was used for Studies 1 and 2, and a second identically sized sample recruited for Study 3. Results from Study 1 indicated toddlers selected the small (49.8% selection) and large (50.2%) capsule with nearly identical frequency. Study 2 largely replicated Study 1: Toddlers selected the small capsule or container of small capsules 26.8% of the time and the large capsule or container of large capsules 22.3% of the time. Study 3 also replicated previous findings: Toddlers selected the smaller capsule 18.0% of the time and the larger 19.2%. We discuss study results, which suggest no appreciable difference in toddler’s grasping choice to smaller versus larger laundry capsules.

Dynamic bidirectional associations in negative behavior: Mother-toddler interaction during a snack delay.

Theoretical models posit real-time bidirectional processes between parents and children as integral to child development, yet few studies have examined such processes. In this study, cross-lagged autoregressive latent growth models were used to assess the dynamic organization of mother and toddler behavior across a snack-delay task. Maternal support and nonsupport and toddler aversive behaviors were rated in 15-s intervals (N = 127 dyads; mean toddler age = 32.7 months). As hypothesized, within-mother increases in nonsupport predicted within-child increases in aversive behavior in the subsequent interval. Likewise, within-child increases in aversive behavior predicted within-mother increases in nonsupport. Maternal support was unassociated with child aversive behavior. Findings are consistent with a dynamic model of mother-toddler influences on negative behaviors during a regulatory challenge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The importance of an ecologically valid method in the evaluation of toddler interaction with coloured liquid laundry detergent capsules.

The colour and appearance of liquid laundry capsules have been implicated in the risk of attracting the attention of toddlers, and therefore contributing to poisoning incidents in the home by encouraging interaction. This research set out to explore if differences in colours and contrasting colour designs used in mono and multi-coloured capsules result in different levels of attractiveness. This was performed using two study settings: a laboratory setting (out of context), and by comparison, a more ecologically valid setting, mimicking the real-world. Capsule attractiveness to toddlers was measured by visual attention (measured through eye tracking) and grasping choice (measured as frequency of grasping in a behavioural task). Results from the research in the out of context setting showed statistically significant differences in visual attention and grasping choice between colours and contrasting designs. In the visual attention study a preference for multi-coloured capsules was shown. In the grasping choice study, in addition to multi-coloured, mono-coloured white or purple capsules were also preferred. In the more ecologically valid setting, there were no statistically significant differences in the visual attention or grasping choice between any of the capsules. These results were consistent with each other and in line with market data reflecting poisoning incident rates, which show no change with colour or contrasting colour design. We suggest that the results from out of context studies might not be a reliable indicator of real world behaviour. Given the importance of toddler home safety, using a methodology that is aligned with market numbers is crucial to develop countermeasures.

Mother–Toddler Interaction Quality as a Predictor of Developmental and Behavioral Outcomes in a Very Preterm Sample

Very preterm birth (<32 weeks of gestation) heightens the risk for developmental and behavioral problems, but individual outcomes vary greatly. We evaluated whether mother–toddler dyadic interaction quality, assessed longitudinally at 14, 20, and 30 months (corrected), could account for unique variance in very preterm and full-term children’s mental, motor, and behavioral outcomes on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 30 months. Participants included 70 mother–toddler dyads (44 with male children, 38 full term and 32 very preterm) followed prospectively from birth to 30 months. In hierarchical regressions controlling for socioeconomic status, dyadic interaction quality at 20 and 30 months explained unique variance in toddlers’ 30-month mental scores and was the sole predictor of orientation/engagement and emotion regulation scores. In contrast, very preterm status was the primary predictor of 30-month motor and movement quality scores. Dyadic interaction quality also mediated the association between very preterm status and specific 30-month outcomes. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Vocabulary development at home: a multimedia elaborated picture supporting parent–toddler interaction

AbstractSome children enter elementary school with large vocabulary delays, which negatively influence their later school performance. A rich home language environment can support vocabulary development through frequent high‐quality parent–toddler interaction. Elaborated picture home activities can support this rich home language environment. This study compares the effects of a multimedia versus a paper elaborated picture on the parent–toddler interaction and toddlers' vocabulary development. In a within‐subjects design, 20 toddlers (age 3–4) discussed a multimedia and a paper elaborated picture with a parent. Results showed that toddlers knew significantly more words (receptively and expressively) after both activities. Moreover, the improvement in receptive vocabulary knowledge was significantly larger with the multimedia elaborated picture compared with the paper‐based picture. In addition, both parent and toddler engaged in a significant higher level of decontextualized language in response to multimedia. The present study shows that multimedia elaborated pictures can support parents at home to engage in a parent–toddler interaction that is richer and supports the development of receptive vocabulary more compared with traditional paper‐based activities. In the future, multimedia‐based home activities for toddlers' vocabulary development, supporting parent–child interaction, can be offered relatively cheap and easily via internet.

AnnaFilipi. Toddler and Parent Interaction: The Organization of Gaze, Pointing and Vocalization. Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 2009. xiii + 268 pp. + video clips. Hb (9789027254368) $143.00.

AnnaFilipi. Toddler and Parent Interaction: The Organization of Gaze, Pointing and Vocalization. Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 2009. xiii + 268 pp. + video clips. Hb (9789027254368) $143.00.

Playing with technology: Mother–toddler interaction scores lower during play with electronic toys

To investigate play with electronic toys (battery-operated or digital), 25 mother–toddler (16–24months old) dyads were videotaped in their homes playing with sets of age-appropriate electronic and non-electronic toys for approximately 10min each. Parent–child interactions were coded from recorded segments of both of the play conditions using the PICCOLO checklist. Mean scores for each play session were compared and the result showed significantly lower scores in the electronic toy condition for three of the four domains of the PICCOLO. Family demographic and play pattern data were also collected, via self-report questionnaire. These data indicated that the play experiences of toddlers were compromised by the lower quality of parent–child interaction during joint play with electronic toys. The potential impact on early child development and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Parenting and Infant Difficulty: Testing a Mutual Exacerbation Hypothesis to Predict Early Onset Conduct Problems

The prediction of conduct problems (CPs) from infant difficulty and parenting measured in the first 6 months of life was studied in a sample of 267 high-risk mother-child dyads. Stable, cross-situational CPs at school entry (5-6 years) were predicted by negative infancy parenting, mediated by mutually angry and hostile mother-toddler interactions at 24-42 months. Mother-child interactions late in toddlerhood were especially relevant for CPs. Contrary to predictions, difficult child behavior in the first 6 months of life was not consistently associated with CPs, either independently or in interaction with negative infancy parenting. The findings most strongly highlight the role of negative mothering in early infancy, and of changes in mother-toddler interaction, in early onset CPs.

Book review: Anna Filipi, Toddler and Parent Interaction: The Organization of Gaze, Pointing and Vocalization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010

Book review: Anna Filipi, Toddler and Parent Interaction: The Organization of Gaze, Pointing and Vocalization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010

Toddler interaction during play in the Swedish preschool

This article focuses on how children aged 17–24 months initiate play and interact with their peers during self-initiated play in preschools. Play is looked upon as a rich arena for observing toddler interaction. The ethnographic study was carried out in a toddler unit with 15 children. Six one-year-old girls and boys were observed during five weeks at the end of a longer research period. The study follows a phenomenological tradition with participatory observations and video recordings. The overall findings support a theoretical perspective where very young children are seen as social actors, with social competences. Play invitation strategies, as well as play enactment and play-closing moves, were mostly found to be based on nonverbal communication such as locomotion, gestures, physical actions and facial expressions. This study also shows that the competence of taking others’ perspectives was found recurrently in play among younger children. Furthermore, the young children used negotiating skills during their play.

Differential exposure to early childhood education services and mother–toddler interaction

This study examined the associations of exposure to early childhood education (ECE) services upon 2.5-year-old children's task persistence and enthusiasm and their mothers’ authoritative and authoritarian behavior and support stimulation. Families participated in the Infant Health and Development Program, an eight-site randomized comprehensive ECE to enhance the development of low birth weight, premature infants. Exposure was measured for 269 families who received at least one home visit and 1 day at the Child Development Center (CDC): 131 with lower exposure (64 ± 11.6 home visits and 206 ± 53 CDC days) and 138 with higher exposure (67 ± 9.2 home visits and 301 ± 21 CDC days). These two groups were compared to the follow-up group (540 with no exposure). Compared to no exposure, high exposure was associated with greater child enthusiasm and persistence and maternal support stimulation. Infant and mother test scores and temperament/depression scores, child's sex, and ethnicity were examined as moderators. Compared to no exposure, high exposure was related to maternal authoritative behavior toward girls, less authoritarian behavior for mothers with lower PPVT scores, and greater task enthusiasm from Black children.

Maternal sensory sensitivity, mother–infant 9-month interaction, infant attachment status: Predictors of mother–toddler interaction at 24 months

At 24-months of age, toddlers ( N = 62) and their mothers were observed in a free-play session to determine the contribution of (a) maternal sensory sensitivity to positive and negative infant facial expressions as measured in a signal detection task at 6 months, (b) maternal behavior and affect, infant behavior and affect, and dyadic interaction at 9 months, and (c) infant attachment status at 12 months in predicting maternal, toddler, and dyadic measures at 24 months. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that over and above early maternal behavior, which was predictive of later maternal behavior at 24 months, sensory sensitivity to the positive infant expression at 6 months predicted maternal behavior at 24 months and sensory sensitivity to both the positive and negative expression was associated with later maternal affect. Infant attachment status emerged as the variable which predicted toddler behavior and dyadic interaction at 24 months.

Maternal knowledge of child development and quality of parenting among White, African-American and Hispanic mothers

This study examined the relationship between early maternal knowledge of child development and later quality of parenting behaviors. Differences by race/ethnic group were also examined. Mother–infant dyads ( N=378) participated in the study. Mothers completed the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI) when the infant was 2–4 months, and mother–toddler dyads were videotaped in their homes at 16–18 months. The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (HOME), Parent/Caregiver Involvement Scale (P/CIS), and Nursing Child Assessment by Satellite Training (NCAST) were used to measure quality of mother–toddler interaction. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses was conducted controlling for confounding demographic variables. Results revealed no significant main effect of maternal correct estimation of child development on quality of parenting, but there was a significant main effect of maternal underestimation of child development on quality of parenting during a teaching task. There was also a significant interaction of maternal knowledge and race in relation to quality of parenting behavior. Implications for generalizability and interventions are discussed.

The Validity of a Methodology to Describe Videotaped Mother—Toddler Interactions

The validity of a methodology to describe mother—toddler interaction was examined in an exploratory study. The Parent—Toddler Coding System (PTCS) and Rating Scales of Dyadic Interaction (RSDI) were designed to quantify the task-supporting and socioemotional behaviors observed in exchanges between parents and their toddlers. The PTCS and RSDI were used to describe the videotaped interactions of mothers and toddlers engaged in play and eating activities in the home. The ability of the PTCS and the RSDI to discriminate between socioemotional and task-supporting dimensions of interactions was examined through a forced choice sort procedure. The construct validity was examined through principal component analyses and through procedures to examine the convergent and discriminant validity using correlational analyses. Both the PTCS and the RSDI were found to capture the socioemotional and task-supporting aspects of interactions in a sample of four mothers and their toddlers. This methodology may be useful for examining videotaped research data of interactions between parents and toddlers when engaged in child-focused activity.

Early motherhood and disruptive behaviour in the school‐age child

To determine the significance of young maternal age, family adversity and maternal behaviour during mother-toddler interaction in the prediction of child disruptive behaviour at age eight. From an ongoing longitudinal study of infants at risk for later psychopathology (n = 362), 72 young mothers aged between 15 and 24 y (median 22 y) at first birth were compared with 197 primiparous older mothers ranging in age from 25 to 41 y (median 29 y). Family adversity at childbirth was assessed using a modified version of Rutter's Family Adversity Index (FAI) and measures of child disruptive behaviour at age eight were obtained using Achenbach's Teacher Report Form (TRF). An observational procedure was used to assess maternal behaviour during mother-child interaction at the age of 2 y. Young mothers encountered more adverse family characteristics and were more inadequate, restrictive and more negative during interaction with their toddlers. Their school-aged children showed higher scores on all disruptive behaviour scales of the TRF. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that family adversity and maternal behaviour during toddler interaction could account for most of the association between early motherhood and child disruptive behaviour. The impact of young motherhood on child mental health is not confined to teenage mothers and is mainly attributed to psychosocial and interactional factors.

Mother–toddler interaction patterns associated with maternal depression

Interactive coordination was observed in laboratory play interactions of pairs of 29 clinically depressed and 14 nondepressed mothers and their 13-29-month-old children (M = 18.9 months). Nondepressed mothers and their children displayed more interactive coordination than depressed-mother dyads (p < .001). Depressed mothers were less likely to repair interrupted interactions, and their toddlers were less likely to maintain interactions than nondepressed controls. Toddlers matched their nondepressed but not their depressed mothers negative behavior rates. Results suggested that early interventions focus on training mothers to attend to maintain, and repair mother-child interactions to more closely approximate normal levels of interactive coordination.

Reproducing gender in public places: Adults' attention to toddlers in three public locales

Adults of different sex interact differently with toddlers. In home and laboratory, fathers/adult males are the primary agents of sex typing and mothers/adult females are the primary caretakers, especially in the managerial aspects of child care. Little is known about the public display of childcare. Observations were made of 1588 adults (794 males and 794 females) and 1122 toddlers at: 1) a zoo, 2) an amusement park featuring rides, and 3) a theme park based on nursery rhymes. The subjects were “family parties” of one adult male, one adult female and one or more toddler(s). Adult males were more likely to carry toddlers and adult females were more likely to push empty strollers. Location differences were minor, as were differences in the way male and female adults interacted with toddlers of different sex. There was a toddler-of-like-sex preference in “parent”-toddler interaction.