Maternal Sensitivity and Language in Early Childhood: A Test of the Transactional Model

Abstract

This study examined the relation between mothers' sensitive responsiveness to their children and the children's expressive language skills during early childhood. Reciprocal effects were tested with dyads of mothers and their children participating in the National Institute of Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Sensitive maternal interactions positively affected children's later expressive language in the second and third years of life. Although maternal sensitivity predicted later language skills in children, children's language did not affect later maternal sensitivity as indicated in a structural equation model. These results do not support the 1975 transactional model of child development of Sameroff and Chandler. A consistent pattern of sensitivity throughout infancy and early childhood indicates the importance of fostering maternal sensitivity in infancy for prevention or remediation of expressive language problems in young children.

Child Vocabulary, Maternal Behavior, and Inhibitory Control Development Among Spanish-Speaking Children

“…As other research has also found that greater maternal sensitivity and responsiveness were related to children’s larger vocabularies (Leigh et al, 2011; Tamis-LeMonda, Bornstein, Kahana-Kalman, Baumwell, & Cyphers, 1998), the positive association found between sensitivity and child vocabulary is not surprising. However, the extension of this association to exclusively Spanish-speaking families in the United States is new and adds to the literature.…”

“…Maternal sensitivity in early childhood is related to many positive child outcomes, including language (Hirsh-Pasek & Burchinal, 2006; Leigh, Nievar, & Nathans, 2011; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network [NICHD ECCRN], 2001) and self-regulation (Kochanska, Murray, & Harlan, 2000; Lengua, Honorado, & Bush, 2007; Mistry, Brenner, Biesanz, Clark, & Howes, 2010; Spinrad et al, 2012). Much of the research relating child outcomes to parental sensitivity comes from samples of predominantly White middle-class parents.…”

Prediction of toddlers’ expressive language from maternal sensitivity and toddlers’ anger expressions: A developmental perspective

“…For instance, Baumwell et al (1997) found that mothers’ verbal sensitivity toward their nine-month-old infants -- assessed as mothers’ attuned verbal behaviors to children’s vocal signals-- predicted relatively high language production at 13 months of age, especially for those children who initially had lower language skills. Similarly, Leigh et al (2011) and Pungello, Iruka, Dotterer, Mills-Koonce, and Reznick (2009) found that mothers’ sensitivity (conceptualized as maternal positive regard and supportive and contingent responses to the child’s emotions, desires, needs and requests during mother-child interactions), was positively related to children’s expressive language and rate of growth in receptive language during early childhood, respectively. In contrast, parenting styles that are low in sensitivity (i.e., restricting, punishing, and controlling) have been negatively related to children’s language abilities (Landry et al, 1997; Pungello et al, 2009), and this negative relation is thought to be stronger prior to the age of 4 than at older ages (Hubbas-Tait, Culp, Culp, & Miller, 2002).…”

“…Thus, parent-child interactions may provide a crucial foundation for children’s language production. Among parenting factors that have been associated with children’s language production are joint attention (Baldwin, 1995; Charman et al, 2000) and mothers’ sensitivity/responsiveness (Landry, Smith, Swank, Assel, & Vellet, 2001; Leigh, Nievar, & Nathans, 2011; Paavola, Kemppinen, Kumpulainen, Moilanen, & Ebeling, 2006). Sensitivity, which includes a range of mothers’ affective and behavioral characteristics (i.e., warmth, contingent responsiveness to the child’s needs, wants and emotions), has been consistently associated with children’s higher linguistic abilities across time (Baumwell, Tamis-LeMonda, & Bornstein, 1997; Karrass & Braungart-Rieker, 2003; Paavola et al, 2006; Tamis-Lemonda, Bornstein, & Baumwell, 2001).…”

Medición de la Sensibilidad del Adulto con Niños de 6 a 36 Meses de Edad: Construcción y Análisis Preliminares de la Escala de Sensibilidad del Adulto, E.S.A

“…Otros estudios han correlacionado la cualidad general de sensibilidad, cooperación, aceptación y responsividad de la madre con habilidades en el lenguaje (Tamis le Monda, & Bornstein, 2002, citados en Hirsh-Pasek, & Burchinal, 2006. Asimismo, Leigh (2011) establece que las interacciones maternas sensibles durante el primer año de vida, tuvieron un efecto positivo en el posterior desarrollo de habilidades de lenguaje expresivo a la edad de dos y tres años. Por su parte, Symons y Clark (2000) correlacionan la sensibilidad temprana de la madre medida a los 2 años del hijo(a) con habilidades posterior a la edad de 5 años en tareas de falsa creencia como expresión de la adquisición de la teoría de la mente en los niños(as).…”