Parent-infant conversations are differentially associated with the development of preterm- and term-born infants.
J Exp Child Psychol
; 239: 105809, 2024 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37967481
ABSTRACT
Preterm birth is a risk factor for language difficulties. To better understand the language development of preterm-born infants, the current study investigated the concurrent associations between parent-infant conversations and the development of 22 preterm-born and 25 term-born infants at 2 years of age. Conversations occurring during mother/father-infant free-play interactions were analyzed to characterize features of parental speech (volubility, speech rate, lexical diversity, and morphosyntactic complexity) and parent-infant exchanges (parent responsiveness, turn-taking, and conversational balance). The infants' language development (receptive communication and expressive communication) and non-language development (cognitive, social-emotional, and executive function) was assessed using standardized measures. Parent-infant conversations were associated with both language and non-language development. This suggests that parent-infant conversations may support language development directly and/or through advancing non-language skills that could promote language learning. The associations between parent-infant conversations and development varied as a function of birth status (preterm or term). This finding may signal the operation of different developmental processes within preterm- and term-born groups. Finally, infant development was differentially associated with mother-infant and father-infant conversations. This may point to the distinct contributions made by mothers and fathers to the development of both preterm- and term-born infants. To optimize language outcomes, these findings indicate that families should be guided to tailor parent-infant conversations to the unique developmental needs and processes of preterm-born infants. Families should also be supported to leverage the distinct developmental contributions of mothers and fathers. Future recommendations are made regarding how to investigate the proposed preterm-term differences in language development processes and the differential developmental contribution of mothers and fathers.
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Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Relações Pais-Filho
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Desenvolvimento Infantil
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Nascimento Prematuro
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article