Zoom in on Behavior: How Parents Teach Stair Descent at Home

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Parents shape opportunities for motor skill acquisition and influence when and how infants learn new skills. Parents present infants spoons to play with and explore before they can functionally use them (McCarty, Clifton, & Collard, 1999; 2001) or situate them unrestricted on the floor before infants are able to locomote independently. Other skills require supervision and instruction because the consequences could be dire. For example, approximately 93,000 children younger than five are injured on stairs each year (Zielinski, Rochette, & Smith, 2012; National SAFE KIDS Campaign, 2004). The safest way for infants to descend is to back down, which is a challenge as it requires infants to face away from the goal (Berger, Theuring, & Adolph, 2007; Berger, Chin, Basra, & Kim, 2015). Given that this behavior may be counterintuitive to infants, we questioned whether parents naturally teach it. The objectives of this pre-registered study are twofold: 1) to ask about the kind of strategies parents use to teach infants a challenging motor task—stair descent—and 2) to examine the real-time relations between parent teaching strategies and infants’ behaviors on stairs.

To address these questions, we recorded parents teaching their infants to descend stairs for 10 minutes in their homes using video-conferencing technology. Researchers instructed parents how to set up smartphone or laptop cameras to capture staircases and parents’ and infants’ behaviors and recorded the session. Parents reported infants’ locomotor history—onset ages of gross motor skills—and experience with stairs. Then, parents were instructed to teach descent as they normally would while ensuring infants’ safety. To date, 12 infants (M=14.29 months) and their parents (M=36 years) participated. Behaviors were coded from video. Parents’ instructions were varied including positioning and guiding infants’ limbs and hands-off spotting, gesturing, and demonstration. These behaviors were often accompanied by verbal encouragement using a toy and specific information about the task or body in relation to the stairs. Infants’ behaviors included scooting, backing, sliding head-first, walking holding banister or adult, and gesturing for help.

To address our research questions, two sets of analyses are planned. First, we will conduct a hierarchical cluster analysis to reveal teaching profiles. We expect four clusters: (1) parents supervise infants on stairs allowing them to explore and practice without offering specific instruction; (2) parents use hands-on support and language; (3) parents instruct verbally only; and (4) parents tend to limit or prohibit movement by physically controlling infants’ body and limbs. Preliminary analyses support these expectations, but the current sample size is too small to be conclusive. Second, we plan to conduct a time-window sequential analysis on the relation between parent teaching style and infant learning behaviors. We expect parents to tailor their teaching to their toddlers’ skill level by reacting in real time to infant’s abilities. Preliminary analyses show parents mainly respond to infants’ locomotor attempts with verbal instruction. Recruitment, remote data collection, and coding are ongoing. We collect 3-4 sessions per week and are on track to complete data collection in 7-8 weeks.

Authors

• Aaron DeMasi, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York
  Presenting Author

• Jalyssa Loretta Matos, Drew University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Taylor Nicole Evans, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michele Goncalves Maia, Graduate Center, CUNY
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lana Karasik, City University of New York College of Staten Island
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah E. Berger, City University of New York College of Staten Island
  Non-Presenting Author