View in EDS HTML Full Text

Interactions of African American Infants and Their Mothers: Relations with Development at 1 Year of Age.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Interactions of African American Infants and Their Mothers: Relations with Development at 1 Year of Age.
Language: English
Authors: Wallace, Ina F., Roberts, Joanne E., Lodder, Diane E.
Source: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Aug 1998 41(4):900-912.
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 13
Publication Date: 1998
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Blacks, Cognitive Development, Communication Skills, Family Environment, Infants, Interaction Process Analysis, Language Acquisition, Low Income Groups, Middle Class, Mothers, Parent Child Relationship, Socioeconomic Status
ISSN: 1092-4388
Abstract: The relationships between aspects of mother-infant interaction and both communication and cognitive skills at 1 year of age were examined in 92 African American dyads, of whom 64 were poor. The overall quality of the home environment and maternal ratings of stimulation and elaborativeness were the most consistent correlates of infant communication measures, especially for middle-income dyads. (Author/DB)
Entry Date: 1999
Accession Number: EJ573534
Database: ERIC
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Text:
  Availability: 1
  Value: <anid>AN0000955565;1SM01AUG.98;1998Aug21.17:36;v2.3</anid> <title id="AN0000955565-1">INTERACTIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN INFANTS AND THEIR MOTHERS: RELATIONS WITH DEVELOPMENT AT 1 YEAR OF AGE </title> <p>The relationships between aspects of mother-infant interaction and both communication and cognitive skills at 1 year of age were examined in 92 African American dyads, of whom 64 (70%) fell below the poverty line. Ratings of warmth, sensitivity, responsiveness, encouragement of initiative, stimulation, and elaborativeness during a semistructured play interaction were correlated with measures of global cognition, expressive and receptive communication, and communication use. The overall quality of the home environment and maternal ratings of stimulation and elaborativeness were the most consistent correlates of infant communication measures. Relationships were stronger in middle-income than lower-income dyads. These results support the linkage of didactic and functional aspects of maternal behavior to cognitive and communication skills at 1 year of age for African American infants. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-2"> KEY WORDS: communication development, maternal interaction, infancy </hd> <p>Over the past two decades, considerable research has examined how features of parent-child interaction affect child development. In particular, parents' behaviors during interaction with their infants have been related to a broad range of child competencies. Although the interactional behaviors that have been associated with child outcomes are diverse, they can be broadly categorized as affective, didactic, and pragmatic. </p> <p>Affective qualities such as parental sensitivity, responsiveness, and warmth have been positively linked to child cognitive and communicative outcomes. Sensitivity usually means an awareness of the child's verbal and nonverbal cues; in other words, sensitive parents are those who recognize and accurately interpret their children's needs and wants. Responsiveness is how the parent responds to these cues in interactions with their child and so presumes sensitivity. Warmth is a positive affect displayed in these parent-child interactions. </p> <p>Several investigations have reported a significant relationship between these affective qualities of parents and their children's developmental outcomes at various ages. Responsiveness as measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Inventory for Infants (HOME) scales has been linked both concurrently and predictively to cognitive test scores (Bradley et al., 1989) and predictively to 3-year language skills (Eladaro, Bradley, & Caldwell, 1977). Escalona (1987) interviewed parents of preschoolers at several time points and developed ratings of the experience patterns for each family. She found that preschoolers of more sensitive, accommodating parents (as assessed by a composite rating during the first three years of life) had attained a greater degree of impulse control and had higher IQ scores at 40 months of age than children of less sensitive, less accommodating parents. Bakeman and Brown (1980) found that maternal emotional and verbal responsiveness as measured at 20 months predicted both cognitive ability and social competence at 3 years of age. Likewise, Jennings and Connors (1989) reported that preschoolers' cognitive test scores and the quality of play were both related to concurrent measures of the amount of affection and praise offered by their mothers. </p> <p>Didactic behaviors are those that parents use to foster learning in a child. These behaviors include providing materials appropriate for learning as well as structuring activities designed to teach skills. There are many studies indicating that didactic activities such as counting, coloring, and using puzzles are related both to global cognitive status (Bradley et al., 1989; Carew, 1980; Escalona, 1987) and to language development (Carew, 1980; Gottfried & Gottfried, 1984). Of all the didactic behaviors, those that encourage language use have been shown to be the most highly related to developmental outcomes. Labeling, asking questions, providing information, and book reading have been shown to relate to the development of cognitive skills (Clarke-Stewart, Vander-Stoep, & Killian 1979), language skills (Clarke-Stewart et al., 1979; Hoff-Ginsburg, 1986; Vibbert & Bornstein, 1989), and school readiness (Laosa, 1982). </p> <p>Pragmatic aspects of parent-child interaction refer to how parents use communication in interaction with their child. They are distinguished from didactic behaviors in that they are not necessarily designed to teach children but are rather stylistic aspects of language use. Pragmatic features include turn-taking in conversations between parent and child, adult expansions and elaborations of the child's speech, and maintenance of the child's interests and focus of attention. Results from two studies (Tomasello & Farrar, 1986; Akhtar, Dunham, & Dunham, 1991) indicate that maternal labeling of objects and maternal directives that followed the child's focus of attention were positively predictive of the child's subsequent productive vocabulary. The critical feature of maternal communication in these studies was that it followed the child's attentional focus. Others have shown that discourse features such as parental expansions of their children's utterances facilitate children's concurrent and later development of morphemes and syntactic structures (Farrar, 1990; Hoff-Ginsburg, 1986, 1990; Scherer & Olswang, 1984). Additionally, Olson, Bayles, and Bates (1986) reported that maternal feedback to infant vocalizations and verbal stimulation were related to the increase in the size of their children's vocabularies at 13 and 24 months independent of demographic characteristics and the child's cognitive status. In contrast, maternal affectionate behavior was not related to vocabulary size. </p> <p>The results reported by Vibbert and Bornstein (1989) illustrate the importance of combining several of these behaviors. Specifically, they found that mothers who frequently encouraged their toddlers to attend to objects by pointing them out, demonstrating how they worked, and elaborating on their properties, had toddlers with higher scores on a standardized measure of noun comprehension. Thus, maternal pragmatic techniques such as joint attention and verbal elaboration combined with didactic behaviors such as showing how objects worked were associated with better child language outcomes. </p> <p>Despite this large body of literature detailing the aspects of interactions that foster language and cognitive development, there are some deficiencies which have not as yet been adequately addressed. One of the major limitations of this body of research has been the nearly exclusive focus on White families who are of middle-class backgrounds (Anderson & Battle, 1993). Importantly, there is a lack of research examining the nature of interaction patterns in African American parent-child dyads and whether the same patterns are related to child development outcomes. </p> <p>Based on research that has examined communication patterns of African Americans, there is reason to expect some differences in African American dyads. In particular, Heath (1989) reported that it is typical for many African American adults of working-class or lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds to use questioning primarily to obtain new information. As a result, their children are not exposed to questioning as a teaching strategy. They also do not simplify their language by using short utterances or labeling important objects. Rather, African American adults tend to use a continuous stream of utterances in communicative interactions with their children (Heath, 1983). Other differences in language usage have been identified such as a narrative style in which a story is told by moving from one topic to another (Michaels, 1981). These findings suggest the African American parents may interact with their young children in ways that foster different developmental outcomes. </p> <p>Although previous research has compared the interaction patterns of African American and White mother-child dyads, ethnicity has often been confounded with SES. Typically, African American mothers of lower-SES backgrounds have been compared to White mothers of middle-SES backgrounds, and the conclusions indicate differences in interaction patterns among African American dyads. For example, previous studies have found that middle-income mothers (who were mostly White) verbalized more to their children, participated more actively in their children's play (Farran & Haskins, 1980; Ramey, Farran, & Campbell, 1979), and were more didactic, less physically intrusive, and more attentive to their children's behavior (Bee, Van Egeren, Streissguth, Nyman, & Leckie, 1969) than were lower-income mothers (who were mostly African American). Although Farran and Haskins (1980) found differences between the behaviors of the lower-income African American and middle-income White mothers, they concluded that the observed differences were a function of perceived differences in the behaviors of their preschool children. </p> <p>One investigation was able to examine social class independent of ethnicity by restricting the participants to African American mother-child dyads (Kamii & Radin, 1967). Results from this study indicate that the middle-class mothers, as compared to lower-class mothers, were more likely to use positive reinforcement, satisfied their children's socioemotional needs more often, and provided the child with more opportunities to make decisions, suggesting that social class, rather than ethnicity, was the demographic factor associated with interactional differences. However, these investigators did not examine whether the interactional patterns were related to the children's developmental status. </p> <p>A few studies have attempted to examine the issue of ethnicity in the relationship between maternal interaction and child outcomes. Clarke-Stewart (1973) found that the association between maternal language characteristics and the language skills of their 36 children, all from low-income backgrounds, was independent of ethnicity. Regardless of ethnicity (half the dyads were African American and half the dyads were White) the children's language scores were higher for those children whose mothers provided more verbal stimulation and expansions of utterances. In contrast, a collaborative study of the HOME with several ethnic groups (Bradley et al., 1989) revealed that many correlations between features of maternal interaction and cognitive test scores were greater in Whites than in African Americans. Similarly, Eladaro and colleagues (1977) reported that although the HOME scales and language skills were related in a comparable fashion in both African American and White families of mixed social class, the correlations were lower in the African American sample. </p> <p>In summary, the association between specific features of mother-child interaction and cognitive and language development has been well documented, though generally in dyads of middle-income, White backgrounds. There is less research that has examined the interactions of African American children and their mothers and how those interaction patterns influence developmental skills. The present study focuses on the patterns of mother-infant interaction in African American mother-child dyads and the relationship between those patterns and the development of cognitive and communication skills during the first year of the child's life. Other factors, such as the mother's educational level and income are taken into consideration. In particular, the investigation was designed to address the following questions: </p> <olist> <item> What patterns of interaction characterize African American mothers and infants? </item> <item> How do these interaction patterns relate to children's communication and overall cognitive development? </item> <item> How similar are these relationships in children of mothers from lower-and higher-income backgrounds? </item> </olist> <hd id="AN0000955565-3"> Method </hd> <hd id="AN0000955565-4"> Participants </hd> <p>The participants in this study were 92 1-year-old African American infants and their mothers. These infants were part of a larger longitudinal study following the development of children attending child care (Roberts et al., 1995). All infants were recruited from one of nine community based child care programs and were enrolled in the study when they were between the ages of 6 and 12 months (mean age of entry was 8.2 months). Enrollment occurred over a 24-month period, from February 1991 until February 1993. </p> <p>There were 44 (48%) boys and 48 (52%) girls. Seventy-four of the children were full gestational age at birth (> 37 weeks), while 18 were 37 weeks or less (9 were 37 weeks; 4 were 36 weeks; 4 were 35 weeks; and 1 was 32 weeks). The mean maternal age (at birth) was 24;2 years (SD = 5.4). At birth, 30 mothers were married (33%), 14 were separated or divorced (15%), and 48 were single (52%). Upon study entry, 64 (69.6%) of the families were from low-income households according to the federally defined poverty level. Mean maternal educational level was 12;4 years (SD = 2.2), with 28.3% of the mothers with less than a high school education, 31.5% who completed high school, and 40.2% with greater than a high school education. </p> <p>Mothers were administered an abbreviated version of the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R; Wechsler, 1981), using the block design and vocabulary subtests. The combination of vocabulary and block design is the most commonly used short form of this test (Silverstein, 1982) in part because these two subtests have high reliabilities, moderate to high correlations with the full scale, and are good measures of general intelligence. The reliability of this composite is .94 across all age groups. The WAIS-R is considered to be a valid and culturally fair measure of intelligence. The mean IQ of the mothers was 86.9 (SD = 9.9). There was a significant association between poverty and IQ level (Chi<sups>2</sups> = 6.44, p < .05; n = 92); 36 (56%) of the mothers living in poverty scored below 85 in contrast to 7 (25%) of the mothers who were above the poverty line. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-5"> Assessment Procedures </hd> <p>Children were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (Bayley, 1969), the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development-Revised (SICD-R; Hedrick, Prather, & Tobin, 1984), and the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS; Wetherby & Prizant, 1993) at 1 year of age by one of two speech-language pathologists (neither of whom were African American). The Bayley was done under the supervision of a licensed psychologist. Testing occurred in two sessions, one week apart, with the child's mother present. The Bayley was administered in the first session, and the CSBS and the SICD-R were administered in the second session. Testing was done in a sound room of a mobile test van. In addition, all children were videotaped with their mothers prior to the administration of the standardized language measures during the second session. The videotaped tasks were carried out prior to the standardized assessments because it was felt that they would be good warm-up procedures and so that mothers would not be influenced by their children's performance on the language tests. If there were an order effect, it should have been constant across all children. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-6"> Bayley Scales of Infant Development </hd> <p>Children's cognitive skills were assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Cognitive level is represented by the Mental Development Index (MDI). The reliability and validity of the Bayley have been well documented. There are no reported ethnic group differences in MDI scores, suggesting that the instrument is culturally fair for African American children (Bayley, 1969). The standard score on the MDI was corrected for gestational age for children born prematurely (</=37 weeks gestational age). </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-7"> Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development-Revised </hd> <p>The Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development-Revised (SICD-R) provides an overall measure of children's receptive and expressive communication skills for children age 4 months to 4 years. The scale yields both an expressive communication age (ECA) and a receptive communication age (RCA). For the standardization sample, high interexaminer reliability and stability are reported. The standardization sample was entirely White. However, a field study in Detroit included African American children ages 32 to 48 months. Differences favoring the White children increased as the children got older; on average the differences for the ECA were 1.9 months and for the RCA they were 4 months. Although these findings indicate that the SICD-R may not be an appropriate measure for preschool African American children, this study does not suggest that the SICD-R is a biased measure for African American infants. Because the RCA and ECA from the SICD-R were age equivalencies, no corrections for gestational age were made. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-8"> Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales </hd> <p>The Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS) are a new set of standardized procedures that examine the communicative, social, and symbolic abilities of children developmentally between 8 months and 2 years of age. Eighteen communication scales are derived and then summed to form a communication composite score. The CSBS was administered because, unlike the SICD-R, it includes an assessment of pragmatics. High levels of reliability and validity are reported in the manual. The CSBS scores for this sample were similar to the data from the standardization sample, suggesting that the reported norms are valid for an African American sample (Roberts, Medley, Schwartzfager, & Nebee, 1997). CSBS composite scores were corrected for gestational age for children who were born prematurely. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-9"> Assessment of the Child Rearing Environment </hd> <hd id="AN0000955565-10"> Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Inventory for Infants </hd> <p>The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Inventory for Infants (HOME; Caldwell & Bradley, 1984) was administered to examine the quality of the children's home environment. The HOME is a 45-item semistructured observation/interview composed of six subscales: emotional/verbal responsiveness of the parent, acceptance of the child's behavior, organization of the environment, provision of appropriate play materials, maternal involvement with child, and variety in daily experience. The HOME total, computed by summing all items, was used in the analyses. Moderate internal consistency, acceptable levels of test-retest reliability and high levels of content validity have been reported for HOME scores for both White and African American families (Caldwell & Bradley, 1984; Bradley et al., 1989). The HOME was administered in the child's home by one of three trained examiners (none of whom were African American) who each met criteria for reliability prior to administering the instrument to study families. The HOME was given when the infants were 9 months of age (N = 57), or at study entry (between 9 and 12 months; N = 30) if the child entered the study after 9 months. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-11"> Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale </hd> <p>The quality of the mother's teaching style during a structured teaching task was assessed with the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS; Barnard, 1978). Mothers were instructed to teach their child a block building task. The teaching task, which was videotaped, was the first procedure of the second testing session at 1 year of age. The videotaped interactions were later coded using the 73-item checklist which comprises six subscales: sensitivity to cues, response to distress, social-emotional growth fostering, cognitive growth fostering, clarity of cues, and child's responsiveness to parent. The sum of the items on the first four subscales yields a total score for parental behaviors, and the sum of the items on the last two subscales yields a total for child behaviors. The NCATS has been used in a large number of studies of mother-child interaction and has been shown to be a reliable predictor of cognitive and language skills (Bee et al., 1982). Prior to coding, both coders participated in the standardized training of the NCAST (Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training) and achieved acceptable levels of reliability with the training protocol. Interrater reliability between two trained coders based on 20 children in the present study was .75 using a weighted Kappa. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-12"> Semistructured Play Session </hd> <p>During the second session after the NCATS and before the administration of the CSBS, mothers and their infants were videotaped while playing together for 10 min. The interactions took place in the sound room of the mobile test van. Mothers were given a pillowcase filled with toys and were requested to play with their child while the examiner left the room. The toys that were available to the mother and the child were: a clown puppet; a push car; a Black baby doll; a picture book; and a toy house with miniature people, beds, and a dog. The sessions were videotaped and audiotaped. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-13"> MULTI-PASS Coding </hd> <p>The interactions between mothers and their infants were coded from the videotapes using the qualitative ratings sections of MULTI-PASS (Marfo, 1992a). MULTI-PASS is a coding scheme that includes behavioral counts and qualitative ratings to examine parent-child interactions. Marfo (1992b) reports significant correlations between several of the maternal behaviors and child outcomes. Only pass four, which consists of six ratings of the mother's behavior, was used in the present study. </p> <p>The maternal behaviors coded were: warmth, sensitivity, responsiveness, encouragement of initiative, stimulation value, and elaborativeness. Warmth is the extent to which the parent displays positive affect, such as hugging, patting, caressing, kissing, verbal endearments, or any other action depicting fondness and positive affect. Sensitivity is the extent to which the parent shows an awareness of the child's verbal/nonverbal cues, signals, and developmental capabilities. Sensitivity is operationalized as how well the mother reads the child's cues and consistently monitors the child's behavior vs. engaging in actions without regard for the child's level or interests. Responsiveness measures how promptly, consistently, and appropriately the parent responds to or acknowledges the child's cues, signals, interests, and overt behaviors. Ratings are based on the how often the parent responds to the child's bids and behaviors and the extent to which the parent's responses are appropriate to child's developmental level and interests. As the definitions indicate, sensitivity and responsiveness are closely related; in fact, responsiveness presumes sensitivity, although a mother can be sensitive but not responsive. Encouragement of initiative examines how the parent's style reflects awareness of how important it is for the child to be in charge and self-directed (i.e., parent's directiveness and control vs. amount of encouragement). Stimulation value is the extent to which the parent orients his/her interactions toward providing optimum cognitive or linguistic stimulation (instructional value) to the child. Lastly, elaborativeness assesses the degree to which the parent expands or elaborates on the child's verbal and nonverbal behaviors with promptness and detail. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-14"> Coding Procedure </hd> <p>One trained African American examiner coded all of the tapes. This individual was different from the examiners who coded and administered the other child rearing measures and was unaware of the child's cognitive and language test results. A second coder who underwent the same training participated in the reliability phase of the study. Prior to coding, a series of tapes were used to train the coders on relevant categories, and coding was initiated after the coders had reached an agreement level of 80% for all categories. Based on the definitions provided in MULTI-PASS and the notes taken while the coder watched the tape, each of the six maternal behaviors were assigned a numerical rating from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least amount of the coded behavior and 5 the greatest amount of the coded behavior. When particular behaviors were unable to be coded after the initial viewing of the tape, the coder reviewed the tape again. Interrater agreement based on 20 videotapes obtained during coding was computed using Cohen's kappa. Reliability for each of the scales was as follows: warmth = .78; sensitivity = .78; responsiveness = .78; encouragement of initiative = .53; stimulation value = .73; elaborativeness = .56; the median reliability was .69. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-15"> Data Analysis </hd> <p>Both descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted. First, means and standard deviations were computed for each of the interactional, cognitive, and communication variables, and intercorrelations were computed among the maternal interactional measures. The maternal behavior ratings were then correlated with standardized measures of communication and cognitive development. Multiple regressions were computed to determine the extent to which interactional measures were jointly and independently associated with the language and cognitive test scores. Finally, interactional variables were correlated separately for the mothers whose income fell below the poverty line and for the mothers whose income was above the poverty line. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-16"> Results </hd> <hd id="AN0000955565-17"> Descriptive Statistics for Environmental and Maternal Variables </hd> <p>Means and standard deviations for each of the MULTI-PASS ratings of maternal interactive behavior as well as for the total HOME score and the NCAST are presented in Table 1. Mothers were rated near the average of the MULTI-PASS scale (i.e., 3) on warmth and sensitivity and somewhat below the average on the other four dimensions. The highest possible score on the HOME is 45. The mean for the HOME in the present sample is similar to the mean score obtained in the large collaborative study of 1-year-olds (i.e., M = 32.5, SD = 7.1; Bradley et al., 1989). </p> <p>The actual distribution of ratings for the MULTI-PASS variables is also presented in Table 1. As can be seen, a majority of the mothers received ratings of 1 or 2 on four of the dimensions (i.e., responsiveness, encouragement of initiative, stimulation value, and elaborativeness) and consequently few mothers received ratings of 4 or 5. In other words, most of the mothers displayed lower ratings of responsiveness, encouragement of initiative, stimulation, and elaborativeness. In contrast, the majority of mothers received ratings that were closer to the middle of the scale for warmth and sensitivity. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-18"> Intercorrelations Among Environmental and Maternal Interaction Variables </hd> <p>Intercorrelations were computed in order to examine the degree of overlap among these variables. The correlations presented in Table 2 show that most of the interactional variables were related. In particular, of the 15 intercorrelations of MULTI-PASS ratings, 12 obtained significance. With the exception of encouragement of initiative which was not related to either warmth, stimulation, or elaborativeness, the other maternal behaviors were all significantly related, with correlations ranging from .31 to .77 and a median correlation of .38. Most of the MULTI-PASS dimensions were also related to the HOME and the NCATS, although the obtained correlations were lower than the intercorrelations among MULTI-PASS dimensions. The intercorrelations tended to be strongest with responsiveness, ranging between .32 and .77 (median r = .39). </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-19"> Correlations of Maternal Variables With Child Outcomes </hd> <p>Means and standard deviations are presented for the child development measures in Table 3. The mean scores on cognitive and communication measures were in the average to above average range for the whole group as well as for the two subgroups. </p> <p>The correlations in Table 4 indicate that aside from elaborativeness, no associations were detected between any of the maternal variables and either global-cognitive status or expressive communication. The MULTI-PASS rating of elaborativeness displayed an association that accounted for 5% of the variation in MDI scores. In contrast, many of the maternal variables were associated with receptive communication skills. In fact, only warmth and encouragement of initiative failed to show a relationship. The four other dimensions of maternal interaction rated on the MULTI-PASS displayed correlations accounting for up to 23% of the variance in receptive communication. The HOME also was found to have a moderate correlation with receptive communication accounting for 22% of the variance. The NCATS displayed a low, but significant association that accounted for 8% of the variance in receptive communication. A few of the maternal measures were associated with the composite scores on the CSBS. The MULTI-PASS dimensions of stimulation value and elaborativeness as well as the HOME scale each accounted for 10% of the variance in the children's overall skill in communication. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-20"> Multiple Regression Analysis </hd> <p>Multiple regressions were performed in order to examine the joint and independent association between interactional variables and child cognitive and communication skills. Because sensitivity and responsiveness were so highly related (r = .77), only responsiveness was used in these analyses. In addition to the HOME, NCATS, and the five MULTI-PASS dimensions, the educational level of the mother was included as an independent variable. Only when the total regression model was significant did we examine the contribution of the individual variables. </p> <p>There were significant regression models for both the receptive communication and the CSBS composite scores. The overall adjusted R<sups>2</sups> for receptive communication was .35 [F(<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref1">8</reflink>, 72) = 6.46, p = .0001]. The total HOME score and the MULTI-PASS dimension of elaborativeness were independently associated with receptive language [HOME: F(<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref2">1</reflink>, 72) = 9.83, p = .002; elaborativeness: F(<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref3">1</reflink>, 72) = 9.16, p = .003]. The overall adjusted R<sups>2</sups> for the CSBS composite score was .12 [F(<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref4">8</reflink>, 76) = 2.77, p = .01]. Both the HOME [F(<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref5">1</reflink>, 76) = 4.76, p = .032] and the MULTI-PASS dimension of stimulation [F(<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref6">1</reflink>, 76) = 5.13, p = .026] were independently associated with the CSBS. The educational level of the mother was not independently associated with any child measure. These results indicate that despite intercorrelations among the maternal measures, the HOME and two of the MULTI-PASS dimensions accounted for some unique variance to the prediction of receptive skills and communication use at 1 year of age. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-21"> Analyses for Poverty Subgroups </hd> <p>Means of the maternal variables were compared in poverty (N = 64) and non-poverty (N = 28) groups. In comparison to the lower-income group, the group above the poverty line had higher mean scores on all but two of the maternal variables. To examine whether the relationships between maternal variables and child measures were similar in infants of lower-income and higher-income groups, separate correlations were computed for the groups living below and above the poverty line. Table 5 presents these correlations along with mean scores for the two subgroups. Also included on the table are the intercorrelations among the MULTI-PASS, HOME, and NCATS scores. </p> <p>Within the lower-income group, few maternal variables were significantly associated with the child outcomes. Responsiveness and elaborativeness (from MULTI-PASS) and the HOME scale were each related to receptive communication. No other relationships were found between maternal measures and child outcomes. </p> <p>In contrast, except for encouragement of initiative and the NCATS, each of the other maternal measures were related to one or more of the child outcomes within the higher income subgroup. For instance, significant correlates of the MDI were the HOME, as well as warmth and sensitivity (from the MULTI-PASS). Expressive communication was associated with warmth. Receptive communication was correlated with most of the variables: warmth, responsiveness, stimulation, elaborativeness, and the HOME. Significant correlates of the CSBS were sensitivity and stimulation. In addition, the HOME and several of the MULTI-PASS variables were related: warmth, responsiveness, stimulation, and elaborativeness. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-22"> Discussion </hd> <p>These findings add to the literature on the patterns of interactive behavior between African American mothers and their infants. They also highlight the importance of these interactions in facilitating children's communication and cognitive development during infancy. By including only African American mother-child dyads of varying income backgrounds, we have been able to examine the extent to which the income groups differ in behavior and in patterns of association between interaction and developmental skills. The results for the entire sample and for the income subgroups will be discussed. </p> <p>Based on observations of mothers interacting with their children during an interview, a structured activity, and a semistructured play session, maternal interactive behaviors were associated with concurrent cognitive and communication skills. The infants of mothers who were rated as more sensitive, responsive, elaborative, and stimulating during these interactions scored higher on measures of infant development. In particular, mothers who elaborated on the child's verbal/nonverbal behaviors more frequently and who provided more optimal cognitive/linguistic stimulation had children who scored higher on the measures of receptive communication skills and communication use. These results suggest that maternal affective interactive behaviors (i.e., warmth, responsiveness, sensitivity) contribute to the development of early developmental skills, but that the more didactic interactive behaviors (e.g., elaborativeness and stimulation) are more strongly linked to children's emerging cognitive and communication abilities. Moreover, maternal measures of elaborativeness and stimulation were associated with developmental test scores even after accounting for the contribution of maternal education and global measures of the environmental richness such as the HOME. Our results are consistent with findings of others who have examined maternal interactive behaviors in relation to developmental outcomes. For instance, Bradley and colleagues (1989) reported that the more didactic subscales of the HOME displayed the highest associations with cognitive test scores in their African American subgroup, and Olson and colleagues (1986) found that maternal verbal stimulation accounted for additional variance to that contributed by distal measures of the environment. </p> <p>What could account for the importance of elaborativeness and stimulation in predicting communicative outcomes? We believe that both variables include a combination of didactic and affective qualities. In the process of elaborating on the child's verbal or nonverbal behaviors and providing stimulation to the child, mothers first need to be aware of their child's interests, signals, and developmental level (i.e., what is captured in sensitivity) and concurrently acknowledge those interests and cues (i.e., what is measured in responsiveness). Evidence for this was seen in the strong intercorrelations of elaborativeness and stimulation with responsiveness, sensitivity, and warmth. Responsive and supportive interactions with children may be important for developing the self-regulatory mechanisms that foster the development of cognitive and communicative achievements (Escalona, 1987). However, such affective behaviors may have a greater impact when mothers also elaborate upon their children's activities and vocalizations and help the child acquire cognitive and linguistic skills. This combination of affective and didactic characteristics is also reflected in the total HOME score and could account for its potency as a correlate of child development in both this study and in others. It is important to recognize that these correlations were generally weaker in the subsample of dyads living in poverty suggesting that these relationships are not universal. </p> <p>The combination of maternal interactional features that were most predictive of child language and cognitive skills in the present study have been previously identified. For instance, social behaviors such as affective comments, smiling, and affectionate physical contact were related to toddler language or play competencies only when they were combined with didactic and pragmatic behaviors such as focusing attention, demonstrating, and describing (Vibbert & Bornstein, 1989). Moreover, this combination of affective, pragmatic, and didactic behaviors appears equally important for the development of Vibbert and Bernstein's upper-middle class infants as for the present sample of African American infants whose mothers were largely of lower income and lower educational backgrounds. In summarizing a body of research, Barnard and Kelley (1990) have written that an awareness of infant cues, the contingent responsiveness to such cues, and the stimulation of the infant within the context of interaction are some of the "necessary features" a parent brings to a mutually adaptive relationship with his/her infant. </p> <p>It is not surprising that stimulating, didactic behaviors such as counting, book reading, and asking questions would be linked to better developed cognitive and language skills. The basis for the relationship between other maternal behaviors such as elaboration and children's language and cognitive skills are not as obvious. For instance, Tomasello and Farrar (1986) have suggested that periods of shared attentional focus between adults and young children (i.e., joint attention) provide linguistic scaffolding for the child's communicative interactions. When mothers elaborate upon their children's verbal and nonverbal behaviors, the mothers' language may be salient because of the child's already directed focus. In using such techniques, parents provide a better context for their young children to decode their linguistic message. Similarly, parents' expansions engage the child in conversation that increases the child's attention to input and illustrates target structures (Farrar, 1990; Hoff-Ginsberg, 1990). Parents who "up the ante" through prompting and elaborating communication require their children to use progressively more advanced linguistic skills (Ninio & Bruner, 1978; Scherer & Olswang, 1984; Snow, 1983). These elaborative behaviors were most frequent in mothers from the higher income group. </p> <p>The failure to find correlates of early expressive language skills was unexpected given previous research in which interactional features have been linked with vocabulary acquisition (Akhtar et al., 1991; Olson et al., 1986; Tomasello & Farrar, 1986). Moreover, there is some evidence that even prelinguistic infants are responsive to conversational interactions (Bloom, Russell, & Wassenberg, 1987). However, the present study relied on standardized measures of communication skills, rather than examining child vocalizations during the interactional sequence. It may be that at this early age formal measures of expressive language are not sensitive barometers of the quality of maternal interaction. In contrast, receptive communication was the child measure that was most predictable. Although 1-year-old children may not have acquired many words, they can indicate by pointing or following commands how well they comprehend different labels and actions. These are the kinds of skills that have previously been found to be enhanced by joint attention, instruction, and elaboration (Vibbert & Bornstein, 1989). </p> <p>The results of this study also add to previous research concerning the relationship among socioeconomic factors, parental interaction, and children's developmental skills. Mothers of lower-income background had lower scores on six of the eight caregiving measures. These results are similar to those found in samples of White mother-child dyads (Hoff-Ginsburg, 1991), in other African American mother-child dyads (Kamii & Radin, 1967), and in mixed ethnic groups (Bee et al., 1969) that indicate differences in interactions as a function of social class background. Although there was variability in the measures of interaction (i.e., responsiveness, elaborativeness, and HOME scores) of the lower-income mothers that was associated with their children's receptive communication development, the associations were fewer and lower than in the sample of dyads who were above the poverty line. Similarly, Bradley and colleagues (1989) reported that the correlations between HOME subscales and MDI scores were lower for their lower-class subgroup than for their middle- and upper-class subgroups. </p> <p>These results indicate that the maternal behaviors that were important in statistically predicting communication skills in children from higher-income families have less importance for impoverished children. Other maternal behaviors that were not examined in this study may have greater importance for the development of communication skills in infants of lower-socioeconomic background. For instance, Bradley et al. (1989) suggested that the impact of parenting behaviors on developmental skills may be moderated by the general social class milieu in which the child is reared. Poverty, like maternal education, does not operate directly on the child but is influential through other factors such as stress, depression, and the quality of environmental supports. These factors were not considered in the present investigation. They may have been more meaningful mediators of the developmental competence in the lower-income subsample. </p> <p>In fact, there may be a continuum of interactional styles that can support communicative competence (Crago, 1992; Massey, 1996). For instance, Heath (1983) described a community of working-class African American parents in rural North Carolina that do not regard young children as speech partners. Despite the lack of infant-directed communicative interactions, the children in this community grew up to be competent speakers. Similarly, the scores on the standardized measures of communication and cognitive skills of our infants indicate that they are developing in an age appropriate fashion despite maternal interaction scores that were different from the sample on whom the MULTI-PASS was developed. Some cultures may adopt different child-rearing practices depending on the competencies that are valued (Ogbu, 1988) or in order to maintain cultural identity (Brice-Heath, 1988; Ogbu,1988). The variability in patterns of language socialization within African American families appears related to the extent of access into class structures, employment opportunities, and other social organizations (Brice-Heath, 1988). The forms of language socialization that are adopted by individual African American subgroups help to define and ensure attainment of group-determined social and academic goals. These findings suggest that although we do not understand all of the important adult influences on the development of the lower-income subsample, there are no doubt maternal behaviors that facilitate their children's early communication skills. Future studies will need to examine which other behaviors encourage language and cognitive growth in African American children from impoverished backgrounds. </p> <p>In interpreting these results, several issues should be considered. The first concerns the nature of the instrument used to characterize mother-child interactions in the semistructured play session. Qualitative ratings were used rather than behavioral counts. Ratings of interaction have been found to be as predictive of developmental outcomes as behavioral counts (Jay & Farran, 1981). Moreover, ratings have the advantage of permitting the coder to filter out moment to moment changes in interaction (Cairns & Green, 1979) and to include aspects that are more intuitive (Bakeman & Brown, 1980; Jay & Farran, 1981) but color the whole interaction. Although there was some restriction in scores because ratings ranged from 1 to 5, significant correlations were detected in several domains. In addition, the Kappas for Encouragement of Initiative and Elaborativeness were only fair, suggesting that low reliability may have reduced the true association between these variables and the outcomes (Thorndike & Hagen, 1969). However, it might be speculated that with greater variability and reliability in the measures of the parenting behaviors, the correlations would only be enhanced. </p> <p>Second, the ecological validity of these findings could be criticized because the mother-infant interactions were obtained from a 10-min session in a laboratory setting. The setting in which interactions occur influences both the characteristics of maternal-child conversations and the social-class differences in those characteristics (Hoff-Ginsburg, 1991). We believe that this explanation is unlikely because the maternal behaviors during the 10-min interaction correlated highly with several independent measures including the HOME which was administered at a different time in the child's home and the NCATS which examined interaction style during a structured teaching task. The significant correlations among measures indicates that there is some consistency of maternal behaviors across measures. This suggests that the 10-min observation of maternal interactional behaviors is likely to be a valid and representative indicator of the type of interactions the child usually experiences. Because all of these infants were enrolled in child care, they spent a significant amount of time with adults other than their mothers. We did not examine the interactions between the infants and their out-of-home caregivers; consequently, we do not know to what extent the communication skills of the infants were associated with their caregivers' behaviors. The child care providers may have more closely resembled the higher-income mothers. </p> <p>Third, although we have termed the interactional variables maternal, it is recognized that such processes are bidirectional; child and caregiver mutually influence one another (Bell, 1974; Bell & Harper, 1977; Sameroff, 1983). There are qualities of the child including cognitive abilities, temperament, and physical characteristics that may elicit different responses from caregivers. Using our data, it is not possible to identify the contributions solely due to mothers in the interaction process. Although they have been termed as maternal behaviors because they were rated in observations of the mother, they may reflect characteristics of the mother, child, or dyadic transactions. </p> <p>Finally, we assessed the children concurrently with their mothers. Thus, we are unable to discuss whether there are long-term relationships between early interaction and later communication and cognitive skills. Nor did we examine more specific language skills such as the emergence of particular classes of words or imitation. Nevertheless, these results expand the previous literature on relations between maternal interaction and early communication development. Relationships previously identified in studies of White infant-mother dyads of middle-socioeconomic backgrounds were also found in this sample of African American infant-mother dyads from predominantly lower socioeconomic backgrounds. These findings suggest that affective qualities such as sensitivity and responsiveness are important, particularly for the nonpoverty subgroup. However, when they are linked with didactic and pragmatic qualities, maternal interactive behaviors will better enhance their infant's communication and cognitive development. Future studies will examine how these parenting styles affect African American children's development over time. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-23"> Acknowledgments </hd> <p>This study was supported in part by the Maternal and Child Health Program (MCH-370599, and MCH-370649 Title V, Social Security Act), Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services. We acknowledge Margaret Burchinal and Elizabeth Gunn for assistance with data analysis; Lynn Medley, Susan Zeisel, Rhodus Riggins, and Brenda Davis for their assistance in data collection; Sarah Henderson for her typing assistance, and the families and children participating in this study. We also would like to acknowledge the assistance of two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments about the manuscript. </p> <hd id="AN0000955565-24">Table 1. Means, standard deviations, and rating percentages for maternal behaviors.</hd> <ct id="AN0000955565-25"> Mean Standard Maternal behavior rating deviation MULTI-PASS Dimensions (N = 92) Warmth 2.92 .97 Sensitivity 3.17 .90 Responsiveness 2.54 .89 Encouragement of Initiative 2.52 .86 Stimulation Value 2.42 .73 Elaborativeness 2.24 .96 HOME (N = 87) Home Total 33.30 5.5 NCATS (N = 92) NCATS Total 39.70 6.10 Percentage for each MULTI-PASS rating 1 2 3 4 5 Very Very Maternal behavior low Moderate high MULTI-PASS Dimensions (N = 92) Warmth 4 34 32 26 4 Sensitivity 0 26 37 30 6 Responsiveness 9 47 26 18 0 Encouragement of Initiative 8 49 27 16 0 Stimulation Value 9 46 40 5 0 Elaborativeness 22 45 25 5 3 HOME (N = 87) Home Total NCATS (N = 92) NCATS Total</ct> <hd id="AN0000955565-26">Table 2. Intercorrelation of maternal interaction categories.</hd> <ct id="AN0000955565-27"> Sensitivity Responsiveness Encouragement Warmth 0.44[***] 0.40[***] 0.01 Sensitivity -- 0.77[***] 0.31[**] Responsiveness -- 0.48[***] Encouragement of Initiative -- Stimulation Elaborativeness Stimulation Elaborativeness HOME NCAST Warmth 0.32[**] 0.49[***] .19 .29[**] Sensitivity 0.31[**] 0.64[***] .25[*] .26[**] Responsiveness 0.38[***] 0.62[***] .32[**] .36[**] Encouragement of initiative 0.02 0.20 .05 .18 Stimulation -- 0.37[***] .28[**] .23[*] Elaborativeness -- .34[**] .24[*] [***] p <.001;[**] p <.01;[*] p<.05</ct> <hd id="AN0000955565-28">Table 3. Communication and cognitive test scores.</hd> <ct id="AN0000955565-29"> Entire cohort n M SD Bayley MDI 92 114.0 13.7 SICD Expressive Age 88 14.40 2.5 SICD Receptive Age 88 13.10 2.3 CBCS Composite 92 99.90 10.5 Poverty subsample n M SD Bayley MDI 64 114.3 13.2 SICD Expressive Age 61 14.2 2.5 SICD Receptive Age 61 12.7 2.3 CBCS Composite 64 97.6 9.9 No poverty subsample n M SD Bayley MDI 28 113.2 15.0 SICD Expressive Age 27 14.7 2.7 SICD Receptive Age 27 14.1 2.0 CBCS Composite 28 105.0 10.1 Note. MDI = Mental Development Index; ECA = Expressive Communication Score; RCA = Receptive Communication Score; CSBS = Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale; HOME = Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment; NCATS = Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale.</ct> <hd id="AN0000955565-30">Table 4. Correlations between maternal variables and child outcomes.</hd> <ct id="AN0000955565-31"> MULTI-PASS dimensions Warmth Sensitivity Responsiveness Bayley MDI .09 .16 .14 SICD Expressive Communication Age .16 .07 .02 SICD Receptive Communication Age .17 .31[C] .38[D] CSBS Composite .09 .10 .15 MULTI-PASS dimension Encouragement of Initiative Stimulation Elaborativeness Bayley MDI .03 .20 .23[A] SICD Expressive Communication Age -.02 .18 .13 SICD Receptive Communication Age 0 .34[C] .48[D] CSBS Composite 0.08 .31[D] .24[A] HOME NCATS Bayley MDI .19 .10 SICD Expressive Communication Age .03 .15 SICD Receptive Communication Age .47[D] .29[B] CSBS Composite .31[C] .16 [A] p <.05; [B] p <.01; [C] p <.005; [D] p <.001</ct> <hd id="AN0000955565-32">Table 5. Correlations between maternal variables and child outcomes for poverty (P) and no poverty-(NP) samples.</hd> <ct id="AN0000955565-33"> Warmth Sensitivity Responsiveness Mean (SD)[a] P 2.81[A] (.94) 30.0[A] (.86) 2.4[B] (.86) NP 3.3 (.98) 3.5 (.88) 3.0 (.84) MDI P -.06 .04 .08 NP .42[A] .45[A] .32 ECA P .01 -.03 -.05 NP .42[A] .23 .11 RCA P -.05 .23 .29[A] NP .49[B] .32 .40[A] CSBS P -.02 -.16 -.02 NP .07 .38[A] .25 HOME P -.01 .14 .18 NP .48[A] .29 .39[A] NCATS P .23 .22 .35[C] NP .27 .17 .15 Encouragement of Initiative Stimulation Elaborativeness Mean (SD)[a] 2.5 (.89) 2.3 (.71) 2.0[D] (.73) 2.7 (.77) 2.6 (.73) 2.9 (1.1) MDI -.09 .17 .21 .11 .28 .36 ECA -.06 .16 -.03 .05 .19 .27 RCA -.04 .23 .38[B] .02 .51[B] .52[B] CSBS -.07 .18 -.01 .33 .43[A] .32 HOME -.00 .13 .12 .05 .54[B] .45[A] NCATS .15 .23 .14 .14 .08 .20 HOME NCATS Mean (SD)[a] 31.8[D] (5.7) 38.6[A] (6.3) 36.4 (3.7) 42.1 (9.8) MDI .15 .11 .45[A] .10 ECA -.01 .08 .04 .31 RCA .38[C] .25 .52[B] .17 CSBS .22 .09 .16 .07 HOME NCATS .18 .23 Note. MDI = Mental Development Index; ECA = Expressive Communication Score; RCA = Receptive Communication Score; CSBS = Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale; HOME = Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment; NCATS = Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale [a] Differences between means for poverty and non-poverty samples were tested by t tests; asterisks indicate significance of differences. [A] p < .05; [B] p < .01; [C] p < .005; [D] p < .001</ct> <hd1 id="AN0000955565-34"> References </hd1> <p>Akhtar, N., Dunham, F., & Dunham, P. J. (1991). Directive interactions and early vocabulary development: The role of joint attentional focus. Journal of Child Language, 18, 41-49. </p> <p>Anderson, N. B., & Battle, D. E. (1993). Cultural diversity in the development of language. In D. E. Battle (Ed.), Communication disorders in multicultural populations (pp. 158-185). Boston: Andover Medical Publishers. </p> <p>Bakeman, R., & Brown, J. V. (1980). Early interaction: Consequences for social and mental development at three years. Child Development, 51, 437-447. </p> <p>Barnard, K. E. (1978). Manual for Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scales. Seattle, WA: University of Washington. </p> <p>Barnard, K. E., & Kelly, J. F. (1990). Assessment of parent-child interaction. In S. J. Meisels & J. P. Shonkoff (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood intervention (pp. 278-302). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. </p> <p>Bayley, N. (1969). Manual of Bayley Scales of Infant Development. New York: Psychological Corps. </p> <p>Bee, H. L., Barnard, K. E., Eyres, S. J., Gray, C. A., Hammond, M. A., Spietz, A. L., Snyder, C., & Clark, B. (1982). Prediction of IQ and language skill from perinatal status, child performance, family characteristics, and mother-infant interaction. Child Development, 53, 1134-1156. </p> <p>Bee, H. L., Van Egeren, L. E., Streissguth, A. D., Nyman, B. A., & Leckie, M. S. (1969). Social class differences in maternal teaching strategies and speech patterns. Developmental Psychology, 1, 726-734. </p> <p>Bell, R. (1974). Contributions of human infants to caregiving and social interaction. In M. Lewis & L. Rosenblum (Eds.), The effect of the infant on its caregiver (pp. 1-19). New York: John Wiley. </p> <p>Bell, R. Q., & Harper, L.V. (1977). Child effects on adults. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. </p> <p>Bloom, K., Russell, A., & Wassenberg, K. (1987). Turn taking affects the quality of infant vocalizations. Journal of Child Language, 14, 211-227. </p> <p>Bradley, R. H., Caldwell, B. M., Rock, S. L., Ramey, C. T., Barnard, K. E., Gray, C., Hammond, M. A., Mitchell, S., Gottfried, A. W., Siegel, L., & Johnson, D. L. (1989). Home environment and cognitive development in the first 3 years of life: A collaborative study involving six sites and three ethnic groups in North America. Developmental Psychology, 25, 217-235. </p> <p>Brice-Heath, S. (1988). Language socialization. In D. T. Slaughter (Ed.), Black children and poverty: A developmental perspective (pp. 29-42). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. </p> <p>Cairns, R. B., & Green, J. A. (1979). How to assess personality and social patterns: Observations or ratings? In R. B. Cairns (Ed.), The analysis of social interactions: Methods, issues, and illustrations (pp. 209-226). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. </p> <p>Caldwell, B. M., & Bradley, R. H. (1984). Manual for the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (Rev. ed.). Little Rock, AR: University of Arkansas at Little Rock. </p> <p>Carew, J. V. (1980). Experience and the development of intelligence in young children at home and in day care. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 45 (<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref7">6-7</reflink>, Serial No. 187). </p> <p>Clarke-Stewart, K. A. (1973). Interactions between mothers and their young children: Characteristics and consequences. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 38 (<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref8">6-7</reflink>, Serial No. 153). </p> <p>Clarke-Stewart, K. A., Vander-Stoep, L. P., & Killian, G. A. (1979). Analysis and replication of mother-child relations at two years of age. Child Development, 50, 777-793. </p> <p>Crago, M. B. (1992). Ethnography and language socialization: A cross-cultural perspective. Topics in Language Disorders, 12(<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref9">3</reflink>), 28-29. </p> <p>Eladaro, R., Bradley, R., & Caldwell, B. M. (1977). A longitudinal study of the relation of infants' home environments to language development at age three. Child Development, 48, 595-603. </p> <p>Escalona, S. K. (1987). Critical issues in the early development of premature infants. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. </p> <p>Farran, D. C., & Haskins, R. (1980). Reciprocal influence in the social interactions of mothers and three-year-old children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Child Development, 51, 780-791. </p> <p>Farrar, M. J. (1990). Discourse and the acquisition of grammatical morphemes. Journal of Child Language, 17, 607-624. </p> <p>Gottfried, A. W., & Gottfried, A. E. (1984). Home environment and early cognitive development in young children of middle-socioeconomic-status families. In A. W. Gottfried (Ed.), Home environment and early cognitive development: Longitudinal research (pp. 57-115). Orlando, FL: Academic Press. </p> <p>Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press. </p> <p>Heath, S. B. (1989). Oral and literate traditions among Black Americans living in poverty. American Psychologist, 44, 367-373. </p> <p>Hedrick, D. L., Prather, E. M., & Tobin, A. R. (1984). Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development-Revised Edition: Instructional Manual. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. </p> <p>Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1986). Function and structure in maternal speech: Their relation to the child's development of syntax. Developmental Psychology, 22, 155-163. </p> <p>Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1990). Maternal speech and the child's development of syntax: A further look. Journal of Child Language, 17, 85-99. Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1991). Mother-child conversation in different social classes and communicative settings. Child Development, 62, 782-796. </p> <p>Jay, S., & Farran, D. C. (1981). The relative efficacy of predicting IQ from mother-child interactions using ratings versus behavioral count measures. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2, 165-177. </p> <p>Jennings, K. D., & Connors, R. E. (1989). Mothers' interactional style and children's competence at 3 years. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 12, 155-175. </p> <p>Kamii, C. K., & Radin, N. L. (1967). Class differences in the socialization practices of Negro mothers. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 29, 302-310. </p> <p>Laosa, L. M. (1982). Families as facilitators of children's intellectual development at 3 years of age: A causal analysis. In L. M. Laosa & I. M. Sigel (Eds.), Families as learning environments for children (pp. 1-46). New York: Plenum Press. </p> <p>Marfo, K. (1992a). Parent-Child Interaction, MULTI-PASS, Version 3.0. Unpublished instrument, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, Kent State University, Kent, OH. </p> <p>Marfo, K. (1992b). Correlates of maternal directiveness with children who are developmentally delayed. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 62, 219-233. </p> <p>Massey, A. (1996). Cultural influences on language: Implications for assessing African American children. In A. G. Kamhi, K. E. Pollack, & J. L. Harris (Eds.), Communication development and disorders in African American children (pp. 285-306). Baltimore: Paul Brookes. </p> <p>Michaels, S. (1981). Sharing time: Children's narrative styles and differential access to literacy. Language in Society, 10, 423-442. </p> <p>Ninio, A., & Bruner, J. (1978). The achievement and antecedents of labeling. Journal of Child Language, 5, 1-15. </p> <p>Ogbu, J. U. (1988). Cultural diversity and human development. In D. T. Slaughter (Ed.), Black children and poverty: A developmental perspective (pp. 11-28). San Francisco: Jossey- Bass. </p> <p>Olson, S. L., Bayles, K., & Bates, J. E. (1986). Mother-child interactions and children's speech progress: A longitudinal study of the first two years. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 32, 1-20. </p> <p>Ramey, C. T., Farran, D. C., & Campbell, F. A. (1979). Predicting IQ from mother-infant interactions. Child Development, 50, 804-814. </p> <p>Roberts, J. E., Burchinal, M. R., Medley, L. P., Zeisel, S. A., Mundy, M., Roush, J., Hooper, S., Bryant, D., & Henderson, F. W. (1995). Otitis media, hearing sensitivity, and maternal responsiveness in relation to language during infancy. The Journal of Pediatrics, 126, 481-489. </p> <p>Roberts, J. E., Medley, L. P., Schwartzfager, J. L., & Nebee, E. C. (1997). Assessing the communication of African American one-year-olds using the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 6(<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref10">2</reflink>), 59-65. </p> <p>Sameroff, A. J. (1983). Developmental systems: Contexts and evolution. In W. Kessen (Ed.), History, theories, and methods. P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 237-294). New York: Wiley. </p> <p>Scherer, J. H., & Olswang, L. B. (1984). Role of mothers' expansions in stimulating children's language production. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 387-396. </p> <p>Silverstein, A. B. (1982). Factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50, 661-664. </p> <p>Snow, C. E. (1983). Literacy and language: Relationships during the preschool years. Harvard Educational Review, 53, 165-189. </p> <p>Thorndike, R. L., & Hagen, E. (1969). Measurement and evaluation in psychology and education (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley. </p> <p>Tomasello, M., & Farrar, M. J. (1986). Joint attention and early language. Child Development, 57, 1454-1463. </p> <p>Vibbert, M., & Bornstein, M. H. (1989). Specific associations between domains of mother-child interaction and toddler referential language and pretense play. Infant Behavior and Development, 12, 163-184. </p> <p>Wechsler, D. (1981). Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp. </p> <p>Wetherby, A. M., & Prizant, B. M. (1993). Manual of Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales. Chicago: Riverside Press. </p> <p>Received November 14, 1996 </p> <p>Accepted November 6, 1997 </p> <p>Contact author: Ina F. Wallace, PhD, Research Triangle Institute, Center for Research in Education, PO Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709-2194. </p> <aug> <p>By Ina F. Wallace Research Triangle Institute University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Joanne E. Roberts Diane E. Lodder Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill </p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib8" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib1" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib6" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib3" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib2" firstref="ref10"></nolink>
Header DbId: eric
DbLabel: ERIC
An: EJ573534
AccessLevel: 3
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Interactions of African American Infants and Their Mothers: Relations with Development at 1 Year of Age.
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wallace%2C+Ina+F%2E%22">Wallace, Ina F.</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Roberts%2C+Joanne+E%2E%22">Roberts, Joanne E.</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lodder%2C+Diane+E%2E%22">Lodder, Diane E.</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Speech%2C+Language%2C+and+Hearing+Research%22"><i>Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research</i></searchLink>. Aug 1998 41(4):900-912.
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 13
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 1998
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Blacks%22">Blacks</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+Development%22">Cognitive Development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Communication+Skills%22">Communication Skills</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Environment%22">Family Environment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Infants%22">Infants</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Interaction+Process+Analysis%22">Interaction Process Analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Acquisition%22">Language Acquisition</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Low+Income+Groups%22">Low Income Groups</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Middle+Class%22">Middle Class</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mothers%22">Mothers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parent+Child+Relationship%22">Parent Child Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Socioeconomic+Status%22">Socioeconomic Status</searchLink>
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1092-4388
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: The relationships between aspects of mother-infant interaction and both communication and cognitive skills at 1 year of age were examined in 92 African American dyads, of whom 64 were poor. The overall quality of the home environment and maternal ratings of stimulation and elaborativeness were the most consistent correlates of infant communication measures, especially for middle-income dyads. (Author/DB)
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 1999
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ573534
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ573534
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 13
        StartPage: 900
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Blacks
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cognitive Development
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Communication Skills
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family Environment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Infants
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Interaction Process Analysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Language Acquisition
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Low Income Groups
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Middle Class
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mothers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent Child Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Socioeconomic Status
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Interactions of African American Infants and Their Mothers: Relations with Development at 1 Year of Age.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Wallace, Ina F.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Roberts, Joanne E.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Lodder, Diane E.
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 1998
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 1092-4388
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 41
            – Type: issue
              Value: 4
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
              Type: main
ResultId 1