Mother-Toddler Book-Sharing Practices in the U.S., Germany and India

• In Event: 2-204 - Variations in Parent-Child Book-Sharing Practices at Home and their Relations to Child Outcomes

Integrative Statement

Two dimensions of parental scaffolding in book-sharing contexts are critical for child language development: cognitive and social (Fivush et al., 2006; Melzi et al., 2011). Here we focus on the social dimension, that is, the way parents organize children’s participation and help them find their role in the interaction. The book-sharing styles that parents adopt depend on their socialization goals and culture (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). According to ecocultural models of child development (Keller, 2007), book-sharing styles may be differentially emphasized within particular cultural contexts, resulting in unique socialization experiences for children. This study explored mother-toddler book-sharing styles in three cultures: U.S., Germany and India. We addressed three research questions: 1) What styles do mothers adopt? 2) Are these styles related to their socialization goals and culture? 3) Are these styles related to the amount and type of children’s contributions?

Participants were 106 middle-class mothers and their toddlers (M age = 24.59 months) from the U.S. (n = 36), India (n = 34) and Germany (n = 36). Mothers were videotaped sharing a book with their toddlers. Videos were transcribed verbatim and coded. Average inter-rater reliability was .82. Maternal utterances were coded as narrative requests (questions), provisions (statements), conversational (e.g., confirming) and narrative related (e.g., general knowledge) (Melzi et al., 2001). Amount (i.e., total child utterances, MLU, and vocabulary size) and type of children’s contributions were assessed (i.e., child utterances coded as verbal responses, non-verbal responses (action) or conversational). To control for length of conversation we used mean proportions for the final score in each maternal and child narrative category. Mothers completed a questionnaire assessing their autonomous and relational socialization goals (importance of toddler’s self-confidence and assertiveness) adapted from Keller (2007).

To identify book-sharing styles, we used a combination of cluster analysis (hierarchical Ward’s linkage and k-means methods) and examined fit statistics. The optimal solution was two clusters (Table 1). Mothers in the first cluster focused on requesting verbal responses from toddlers (19% of utterances) and providing information (29% of utterances). We call this style, language-focused. Mothers in the second cluster focused on requesting nonverbal (action) responses from toddlers (19% of utterances) and on confirming and clarifying (42% of utterances). We call this style, action-focused. Language-focused mothers were less likely to embrace autonomous socialization goals than action-focused mothers, OR= 0.60, p < .05, pseudo r-squared = 0.03, CI 95% [0.38-0.95]. German and Indian mothers were more likely to adopt a language-focused style than U.S. mothers (Table 1), OR= 0.10, p < .001, pseudo r-squared = 0.13, CI 95% [0.04-0.33]. Children whose mothers adopted a language-focused style produced larger total number of utterances and provided more verbal responses than children whose mothers adopted an action-focused style (see Table 2). In contrast, children whose mothers adopted an action-focused style provided more non-verbal responses (actions) than children whose mothers adopted a language-focused style. Findings are discussed in light of the role that socialization goals and culture play in shaping parents’ organization of children’s participation in book-sharing contexts.

Authors

• Diana Leyva, Davidson College
  Presenting Author

• Antje von Suchodoletz, New York University Abu Dhabi
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anna-lena Hinojo, University of Muenster
  Non-Presenting Author

• Delshad Shroff, Boston Children’s Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elena Doering, New York University Abu Dhabi
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joscha Kärtner, University of Münster
  Non-Presenting Author