Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4938243 Early Childhood Research Quarterly 2017 13 Pages PDF
Abstract
We examined reciprocal associations between maternal questions and children's narrative contributions during book-sharing. Participants were 235 U.S. mothers and their 4-year-old children from low-income, African American, Dominican, Mexican, and Chinese backgrounds. Maternal questions and child narrative contributions were coded for their cognitive level and contingency. For example, the question “What's that?” was coded as a basic referential question and the question “What will happen next?” was coded as a more advanced inferential question. Contingency was indicated when child contributions preceded (child-to-mother sequence) or followed (mother-to-child sequence) maternal questions at likelihoods greater than chance. Across all ethnic groups, maternal questions and child contributions were contingent on one another, with the magnitudes of mother-to-child effects being larger than child-to-mother effects. Children's responsive contributions and mothers' responsive questions were matched in their cognitive level. Children actively shape the inputs they receive during book-sharing interactions, and in turn benefit from questions at different cognitive levels.
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Social Sciences and Humanities Psychology Applied Psychology
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