Examining relations among mothers', fathers', and children's language use in a dyadic and triadic context
- 1 April 2013
- journal article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Early Child Development and Care
- Vol. 183 (3-4), 394-414
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2012.711590
Abstract
This study investigated mothers' and fathers' language use in dyadic and triadic contexts. Specific attention was paid to factors associated with the quantity and quality of mother and father language use in triadic settings. Sixty-three predominantly middle-class, two-parent families with toddlers (age 16 to 37 months) participated. Mother–child and father–child dyads and mother–father–child triads were observed in a laboratory setting during structured and free-play sessions. Results reveal differences in father and mother language usage across contexts and differential patterns of associations between fathers' and mothers' language use and children's language use in triadic settings. Mothers' language use in triadic settings was predicted by child age, maternal education, and maternal employment status. In contrast, father language use was related to child age, paternal sensitivity, and balanced co-parenting. Results are discussed in relation to Family Systems Theory and existing research on co-parenting and father involvement literatures.Keywords
This publication has 55 references indexed in Scilit:
- Patterns and predictors of father–infant engagement across race/ethnic groupsEarly Childhood Research Quarterly, 2011
- Maternal Sensitivity and Child Responsiveness: Associations with Social Context, Maternal Characteristics, and Child Characteristics in a Multivariate AnalysisInfancy, 2007
- Fathers' Speech to Their Children: Perfect Pitch or Tin Ear?Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Men as Fathers, 2003
- Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Outcomes in the First Three Years of Life: The NICHD Study of Early Child CareChild Development, 2002
- Accounting for Patterns of Father Involvement: Age of Child, Father‐Child Coresidence, and Father Role SalienceSociological Inquiry, 1999
- Patterns of marital change during the early childhood years: Parent personality, coparenting, and division-of-labor correlates.Journal of Family Psychology, 1998
- Parental Sensitivity to Infants and Toddlers in Dual-Earner and Single-Earner FamiliesNursing Research, 1998
- Sources of child vocabulary competence: a multivariate modelJournal of Child Language, 1998
- Mothers and fathers interacting in dyads and triads with normal and hyperactive sons.Developmental Psychology, 1992
- A First LanguagePublished by Harvard University Press ,1973