TY - JOUR
T1 - An intervention focused on maternal sensitivity enhanced mothers' verbal responsiveness to infants
AU - Alvarenga, Patrícia
AU - Kuchirko, Yana
AU - Cerezo, Maria Ángeles
AU - de Mendonça Filho, Euclides José
AU - Bakeman, Roger
AU - Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - We investigated the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at enhancing maternal sensitivity on mothers' verbal responsiveness to infants. Forty-four mothers from low-income, Brazilian homes and their 3-month-old infants were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 22) and comparison (n = 22) groups. The intervention spanned eight monthly home visits, during which mothers were trained to acknowledge and respond to infants' behaviors. Maternal verbal responsiveness was assessed during dyadic free play when infants were 11 and 18 months old. We computed the probability that mothers would follow infants' behaviors with verbal unimodal (only verbal) or multimodal (simultaneous verbal and non-verbal) responsiveness. We found higher proportions of multimodal verbal responsiveness in the intervention group than in the comparison group at both ages. Infants in the intervention group displayed more communicative behaviors than did infants in the comparison group. Interventions focused on maternal sensitivity may support maternal verbal responsiveness and early language development.
AB - We investigated the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at enhancing maternal sensitivity on mothers' verbal responsiveness to infants. Forty-four mothers from low-income, Brazilian homes and their 3-month-old infants were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 22) and comparison (n = 22) groups. The intervention spanned eight monthly home visits, during which mothers were trained to acknowledge and respond to infants' behaviors. Maternal verbal responsiveness was assessed during dyadic free play when infants were 11 and 18 months old. We computed the probability that mothers would follow infants' behaviors with verbal unimodal (only verbal) or multimodal (simultaneous verbal and non-verbal) responsiveness. We found higher proportions of multimodal verbal responsiveness in the intervention group than in the comparison group at both ages. Infants in the intervention group displayed more communicative behaviors than did infants in the comparison group. Interventions focused on maternal sensitivity may support maternal verbal responsiveness and early language development.
KW - Intervention
KW - Language development
KW - Maternal verbal responsiveness
KW - Mother-infant interaction
KW - Sequential analysis
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U2 - 10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101313
DO - 10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101313
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112587758
SN - 0193-3973
VL - 76
JO - Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
JF - Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
M1 - 101313
ER -