Parent–child interaction: Does parental language matter?

Abstract

Although parental language and behaviour have been widely investigated, few studies have examined their unique and interactive contribution to the parent-child relationship. The current study explores how parental behaviour (sensitivity and non-intrusiveness) and the use of parental language (exploring and control languages) correlate with parent-child dyadic mutuality. Specifically, we investigated the following questions: (1) 'Is parental language associated with parent-child dyadic mutuality above and beyond parental behaviour?' (2) 'Does parental language moderate the links between parental behaviour and the parent-child dyadic mutuality?' (3) 'Do these differences vary between mothers and fathers?' The sample included 65 children (M = 1.97 years, SD = 0.86) and their parents. We observed parental behaviour, parent-child dyadic mutuality, and the type of parental language used during videotaped in-home observations. The results indicated that parental language and behaviours are distinct components of the parent-child interaction. Parents who used higher levels of exploring language showed higher levels of parent-child dyadic mutuality, even when accounting for parental behaviour. Use of controlling language, however, was not found to be related to the parent-child dyadic mutuality. Different moderation models were found for mothers and fathers. These results highlight the need to distinguish parental language and behaviour when assessing their contribution to the parent-child relationship.

Mother–child and Father–child Play Interaction: The Importance of Parental Playfulness as a Moderator of the Links Between Parental Behavior and Child Negativity

“…For fathers, though, results support a double‐buffer model, indicating that only when both paternal behavior (i.e., sensitivity and structuring) and playfulness were high, the child had low negativity. These results support our previous findings indicating that even if fathers and mothers lack a difference in their behaviors, different patterns of parental correlates on child outcome may be revealed (Menashe, ). Thus, it is important to trace the different patterns by which fathers and mothers contribute to their child's development rather than just exploring the differences in the mean‐level scores.…”

“…The similarity between paternal and maternal playfulness levels is in line with previous studies, showing similarities between other parental behaviors during play. For example, it has been found that fathers and mothers did not vary in the levels of sensitivity, intrusiveness, hostility (Atzaba‐Poria et al, ; John et al., ), and use of language (Menashe et al, ) during play interaction.…”

Types of Parenting of Fathers during Early Childhood: A Q Methodological Approach

“…This finding coincides with that of a study investigating mothers who cared for young children [7]. Regarding children's relationship with their parents, one study found that discipline for children was considered important, and another study found that intimacy was considered important in terms of affection, and that children's relationship with their parents also was regarded as important [30]. These findings lend credibility to the findings of this study.…”

Communicative functions of parents’ child-directed speech across dyadic and triadic contexts

“…what colour is teddy's coat?) permit children to express themselves and share their needs and ideas with parents (Menashe & Atzaba-Poria, 2016). By inviting children into conversations, such parental utterances have been found to confer considerable linguistic advantages on children (Leech, Salo, Rowe & Cabrera, 2013;Rowe, Leech & Cabrera, 2017).…”

“…Even though families have long been regarded as dynamic, integrated systems (Cox & Paley, 2003;Minuchin, 1985) there is a dearth of literature that looks at families AS systems (Hollenstein, Allen & Sheeber, 2016). Research in the area of parental CDS has focused mainly on the dyadic context (Menashe & Atzaba-Poria, 2016;Rowe et al, 2004;Rowe, 2008;Tamis-LeMonda et al, 2012a, 2012b. This exclusive focus on dyadic interactions overlooks the reality that children acquire language not from two independent contributors but via the shared experience created by interdependent communications (Renzi, Romberg, Bolger & Newman, 2017).…”