The influence of maternal interactive beliefs and style on the language development of preterm and full-term children

This thesis investigated the influence of maternal interactive beliefs and style on language development in preterm and full-term children. Across three studies, the psychometric properties of a maternal interactive beliefs measure were evaluated; the relationship between maternal interactive beliefs, maternal interactive style and children's language development was explored; and differences between mothers of preterm and full-term children regarding interactive beliefs and style were investigated. Results demonstrated the critical contribution of both maternal interactive beliefs and interactive styles to children's language development. This research may contribute to prevention of language delay via enhancement of mother-child interactions that contribute to language development

A global perspective on psycho-educational assessment

For psychologists in less developed countries, psycho-educational assessment is often challenging due to a lack of specialist training and a scarcity of appropriate, psychometrically robust instruments. This paper focuses on school psychology and psycho-educational assessment in three countries: Bangladesh, China and Iran. Despite differences in demographic and cultural features, these countries share similar issues that restrict the practice of psycho-educational assessment. We conclude that it is important for psychologists in western countries to support professional training and testing practices in less developed countries

Reliability and factor structure of the maternal interactive beliefs questionnaire translated into Persian

The Maternal Interactive Beliefs Questionnaire (Johnston and Wong, 2002) assesses maternal beliefs about children’s language development. This study investigated the psychometric properties of a Persian translation of this questionnaire. The translation followed the protocol of the World Health Organization. Psychometric properties were evaluated using data from 301 Iranian mothers of children aged two to five years. The internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the total scores were calculated for comparative purposes, and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the underlying structure. A principal component analysis revealed two components (accounting for 14.46% and 7.57% of the variance, respectively). The first component represented supportive maternal beliefs. The second component represented directive maternal beliefs. Cronbach’s alpha for components one, two and the total scores were acceptable (0.73, 0.71, and 0.73, respectively), and the test–retest reliability of the total score was high (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.97). Consistent with previous research, the findings indicated that the translated survey is reliable to be used with Iranian mothers. The novel finding is that the survey has two underlying and theoretically plausible components; therefore, the use of a total scale score is cautioned. We recommend future testing of the two components

Maternal interactive beliefs and style as predictors of language development in preterm and full term children

Previous research has shown that the quality of mother-child interactions between pre-term children and their mothers tends to be poorer than that of full-term children and their mothers (Forcada-Guex, Pierrehumbert, Borghini, Moessinger &amp; Muller-Nix, 2006). Mothers of pre-term children are less responsive and more intrusive in interactions with their children than mothers of full-term children (Forcada-Guex et al.2006; Ionio, Lista, Mascheroni, Olivari, Confalonieri, Mastrangelo, Brazzoduro, Balestriero, Banfi, Bonanomi, Bova, Castoldi, Colombo, Introvini &amp; Scelsa, 2017; Laing, McMahon, Ungerer, Taylor, Badawi &amp; Spence, 2010). The current research explored differences between mothers of pre-term and full-term children in terms of interactive beliefs and style, and the potential for language development to be differentially predicted by maternal interactive beliefs and styles in pre-term versus full-term children. Independent t-tests were conducted to compare pre-term and full-term groups in relation to the measures of maternal interactive beliefs and styles. A series of multiple regression analyses were then performed separately for each group to examine the shared and unique contributions of maternal interactive beliefs and styles on full-term versus pre-term children's language development. The results showed that mothers of pre-term children were more intrusive-directive than mothers of full-term children; in contrast, mothers of full-term children were more responsive and supportive-directive in interactions with their children. Moreover, predictors of language development were different in full-term versus pre-term children; in full-term children, maternal supportive beliefs and responsiveness were significant predictors of language development evaluated by both the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development and the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory; in the pre-term group, maternal supportive and directive beliefs, as well as supportive and intrusive directiveness, were significant predictors, with the latter being negatively associated with language development indicators. This research can shed light on how to prevent language delay in children and improve mother-child interactions that contribute to language development, which may in turn improve language development in vulnerable children, children born pre-term in particular.</p