Hoff, Erika

The present study investigated the relation of children’s attentional behaviors to context, gender, and their language skills. Participants were 33 children and their parents. The following attentional behaviors were measured based on coding of video recordings of 30-minute free-play interactions at 30 months: time spent in engaged states (attending to an object, person, or event) and frequency of changes from one engagement state to another. Children’s productive vocabulary and language comprehension were measured using standardized tests at 30, 36, and 42 months. Males spent more time in joint engagement and switched engagement states less frequently. Children spent more time engaged during Animal and Picnic toy play than Book reading. Children attended longer to picnic-related objects than animal-related objects or books, and attended longer to animal- related objects than books. Longer sustained attention—measured as lower frequencies of state switches—was related to higher concurrent and future language comprehension scores.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between specific measures of child temperament and parent-child interaction in a problem-solving task. One prediction is that children's behavior in a problem solving task will be dictated by their unique temperamental characteristics. It is also thought that child temperament will be related to parental sensitivity to child's emotional cues and understanding as well as teaching strategies and joint decision making. Another prediction is that temperament affects joint attention between children and their parents. Previous research using aggregated dimensions of temperament have found a relation between child temperament and parent-child interaction, however, the relations between specific temperament variables and child attention and parent-child interactions have not been assessed. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that child temperament will be related to child behavior, parental behavior and to the level of joint attention between parent and child in the context of a task activity.

The relation of child temperament to parent and child behavior was examined in the context of a problem-solving task. The participants included 8 mothers and 1 father and their children (4 males, 5 females) between the ages of 28 and 32 months who were videotaped as they worked with puzzles in a laboratory playroom. Child temperament was assessed using the Toddler Behavioral Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ), a parental report instrument. The parent behaviors measured were the use of directives, praise and encouragement, and negative corrections. The child behavior measured was compliance to parental directives. Parent and child behaviors were coded from videotapes of observational sessions. Children's scores on two dimensions of the TBAQ were associated with parenting behavior: Children's scores on the pleasure dimension of temperament were positively associated with parental use of directives, and children's scores on the interest dimension of temperament were negatively associated with parental use of negative corrections. These findings suggest that parents' perceptions of their children's temperaments are associated with their parenting behavior toward their children.