Within arms reach: Physical proximity shapes mother-infant language exchanges in real-time

During everyday interactions, mothers and infants achieve behavioral synchrony at multiple levels. The ebb-and-flow of mother-infant physical proximity may be a central type of synchrony that establishes a common ground for infant-mother interaction. However, the role of proximity in language exchanges is relatively unstudied, perhaps because structured tasks—the common setup for observing infant-caregiver interactions—establish proximity by design. We videorecorded 100 mothers (U.S. Hispanic N = 50, U.S. Non-Hispanic N = 50) and their 13- to 23-month-old infants during natural activity at home (1-to-2 h per dyad), transcribed mother and infant speech, and coded proximity continuously (i.e., infants and mother within arms reach). In both samples, dyads entered proximity in a bursty temporal pattern, with bouts of proximity interspersed with bouts of physical distance. As hypothesized, Non-Hispanic and Hispanic mothers produced more words and a greater variety of words when within arms reach than out of arms reach. Similarly, infants produced more utterances that contained words when close to mother than when not. However, infants babbled equally often regardless of proximity, generating abundant opportunities to play with sounds. Physical proximity expands opportunities for language exchanges and infants’ communicative word use, although babies accumulate massive practice babbling even when caregivers are not proximal

Television viewing in Thai infants and toddlers: impacts to language development and parental perceptions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Effects of television to language development in infants and toddlers, especially in the Asian children, are inconclusive. This study aimed to (a) study time spent on television in Thai infants and toddlers (age < 2 years), (b) investigate the association between time spent on television (as recommended by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), < 2 hours per day) and language development in Thai 2-year-old children, and (c) explore parental perceptions on television toward their child's development.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two hundred and sixty children and their parents were recruited into the study. Time spent on television and parental perceptions on television viewing toward their child's development were recorded during face-to-face and telephone interviews. Language development was assessed at the age of 2 years using the Clinical Linguistic Auditory Milestone Scale (CLAMS), and parents' report. Association between delayed language development and time spent on television viewing, as well as other various parameters such as gender, maternal education and family income, were analysed using a multivariate logistic regression model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most Thai infants and toddlers watched television at the age of 6 months, 1 year and 2 years old (98.0, 95.3 and 96.7%, respectively). On average, 1-year-old children watched television 1.23 ± 1.42 hours per day. This increased to 1.69 ± 1.56 hours per day when they were 2 years old. However, watching television longer than 2 hours per day did not associate with delayed language development. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, gender (male) was the only significant factor associated with delayed language development (OR = 6.9, 95% CI = 1.5–31.3). Moreover, 75%, 71%, and 66% of Thai parents believed that television viewing yielded benefits to children's developments.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thai children commenced watching television at an early age and the amount of television viewing time increased by age. Most parents had positive perceptions to television viewing. The study found no association between time spent on television viewing (≥ 2 hours per day) and delayed language development at the age of 2 years.</p> <p>Gender (male) was the only variable associated with delayed language development.</p

Play and Developmental Outcomes in Infant Siblings of Children with Autism

We observed infant siblings of children with autism later diagnosed with ASD (ASD siblings; n = 17), infant siblings of children with autism with and without other delays (Other Delays and No Delays siblings; n = 12 and n = 19, respectively) and typically developing controls (TD controls; n = 19) during a free-play task at 18 months of age. Functional, symbolic, and repeated play actions were coded. ASD siblings showed fewer functional and more non-functional repeated play behaviors than TD controls. Other Delays and No Delays siblings showed more non-functional repeated play than TD controls. Group differences disappeared with the inclusion of verbal mental age. Play as an early indicator of autism and its relationship to the broader autism phenotype is discussed

How well do European child-related leave policies support the caring role of fathers?

Our chapter analyses the extent to which European countries (1) recognize the caring responsibilities of fathers toward their children and (2) value fathers' caring role. To do so, we analyze the designs of individual leave policies and reflect on them by assessing available data on leave uptake by fathers in 13 European countries. Our results show that there is great variation in child-related leave designs across Europe. Our findings, in line with previous work, underscore the importance of generous individual non-transferable leave entitlements. Moreover, our findings bring forward aspects of leave designs that are rarely discussed when considering fathers' leave uptake. Our results indicate that generous non-transferable leave rights should be paired with (a) clearly defined leave periods for fathers, (b) individual entitlement to benefits, and (c) greater scope for flexibility to increase the attractiveness of child-related leave and to strengthen fathers' position when negotiating their childcare leave.</p

Environmental Factors Influence Language Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

International audienc

In-lecture learning motivation predicts students’ motivation, intention, and behaviour for after-lecture learning: Examining the trans-contextual model across universities from UK, China, and Pakistan

This paper presents a cross-cultural examination of the trans-contextual model in University education setting. The purpose of the study was to test the effect of students’ perceived autonomy support and in-lecture learning motivation on motivation, intention, and behaviour with respect to after-lecture learning via the mediation of the social cognitive variables: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. University students from UK, China, and Pakistan completed the questionnaires of the study variables. Results revealed that in-lecture perceived autonomy support and autonomous motivation were positively associated with autonomous motivation and intention to engage in after-lecture learning activities via the mediation of the social cognitive variables in all samples. After controlling for the effect of past behaviour, relations between intention and behaviour were only observed in the Chinese sample. In conclusion, the trans-contextual model can be applied to University education, but cultural differences appear to moderate the predictive power of the model, particularly for the intention-behaviour relationship

Fluid Intelligence and Psychosocial Outcome: From Logical Problem Solving to Social Adaptation

While fluid intelligence has proved to be central to executive functioning, logical reasoning and other frontal functions, the role of this ability in psychosocial adaptation has not been well characterized.Lower fluid intelligence scores were associated with physical violence, both in the role of victim and victimizer. Drug intake, especially cannabis, cocaine and inhalants and lower self-esteem were also associated with lower fluid intelligence. Finally, scores on the perceived mental health assessment were better when fluid intelligence scores were higher.Our results show evidence of a strong association between psychosocial adaptation and fluid intelligence, suggesting that the latter is not only central to executive functioning but also forms part of a more general capacity for adaptation to social contexts

Emotion Coregulation in Mother-Child Dyads: A Dynamic Systems Analysis of Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Few studies have investigated patterns of emotion coregulation in families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or contrasted the ways in which their emotion coregulation patterns differ from families of typically developing (TD) children. To address this gap, we used a dynamic systems approach to compare flexible structure and emotional content of coregulation between mothers and children (3-7&nbsp;years) with ASD (n&nbsp;=&nbsp;47) and TD children (n&nbsp;=&nbsp;26). Mother-child play interactions in the home were videotaped and emotion-engagement states were coded in micro-level 5-s intervals based on behavioral and affective expressions. Analyses indicated that mother-child dyads in the ASD group spent more time than dyads in the TD group in mismatched emotion-engagement states (e.g., child negative/mother positive), and children with ASD spent more time than TD children engaged exclusively with objects. Mother-child dyads in the TD group stayed longer in mutual positive engagement states. Compared to dyads in the TD group, mother-child dyads in the ASD group exhibited greater flexibility (i.e., a wider range of emotional-engagement states, more frequent changes in states, and less time in each state). These findings suggest that mothers and their children with ASD do not sustain dyadic positive engagement patterns in a low-stress environment. Findings confirmed the preference of children with ASD for objects over social partners, even when they are at home with their mothers, and elucidated a challenging mother-child interactional style. Results have implications for mother-child interventions aimed at regulating negative emotional states and sustaining positive ones in families raising children with ASD