Mother-infant and father-infant “serve and return” interactions: Link to language skills at 18 months

• In Event: Examining the nature of children's linguistic environments: evidence from socioeconomically and ethnically diverse families

Abstract

Introduction. Children learn language through meaningful back-and-forth interactions with their caregivers during which parents respond (“return”) their children’s bids for attention (“serves;” Shonkoff, 2017). When parents “return” children’s “serves” in a prompt (temporally contingent) and meaningful (semantically contingent) manner, children engage in a word-to-world mapping process and understand the intentionality and reciprocity of social interactions (Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2014). “Serve and return” (SR) interactions during infancy has been found to be positively associated with children’s language skills in toddlerhood (e.g., McGillion et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2018). However, this literature is limited in several ways. First, what is considered a prompt “return” is unclear; some studies find an association between SR and language at 2s whereas others find it at 5s (Gros-Louis et al., 2014; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2001). Second, the majority of the findings are based on middle-class White families and little is known about SR in socioeconomically and ethnically diverse populations (Ramírez, 2022; Shimpi et al., 2012). Third, this literature excludes fathers who uniquely contribute to early language development (Malin et al., 2014).

Research Questions & Hypotheses. To address these gaps, we examined three questions: (1) What is the frequency of maternal and paternal SR behaviors during interactions with 9-month-olds? (2) Are parent depressive symptoms and parenting stress linked to their SR behaviors? (3) Are maternal and paternal SR behaviors at 2s or 5s associated with children’s language skills at 18 months? We hypothesize that parents who report more depressive symptoms and higher parenting stress will engage in fewer SR behaviors and that parents who engage in more SR behaviors will have children with better language skills.

Study Population & Methods. Data were from N=284 primarily Hispanic (74%) mothers and fathers and their children (Table 1). We transcribed parent and child speech during toy play and coded child serves (e.g., vocalization, look) and parent returns (i.e., 2s and 5s following a serve and semantically relevant) at 9 months. We also rated parental responsiveness (e.g., shared positive affect, tuned in to child’s interest) during toy play. Parents reported their depressive symptoms, parenting stress, and demographic information. Children’s language skills were assessed using PLS-4.

Results. Although infants rarely vocalized during the interaction, approximately half of their vocalizations were returned within 2s by mothers and fathers. However, only 7% of mothers’ and 6% of fathers’ returns were semantically relevant (e.g., labeling the object in child’s attention) and within 2s (Table 1). In addition, parents on average reported few depressive symptoms and low parenting stress and these characteristics were not significantly associated with SR behaviors. Lastly, mothers’ returns to vocalizations were significantly associated with receptive and expressive skills at 18 months, while fathers’ relevant returns to exploratory acts were significantly associated with expressive skills (Figure 1). Importantly, these associations were found only for returns within 2s and not 5s and over and above the contribution of globally rated parental responsiveness. Interventions and programs may consider educating both mothers and fathers on SR with their infants to support language development.

Authors

• Yu Chen, New York University School of Medicine
  Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine