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Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
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The bidirectional association between maternal speech and child characteristics
Catherine Mimeau1, Édith Cantin1, Richard E Tremblay2
1Université Laval, Canada.
Journal of Child Language
|October 9, 2019
Summary
Infants
Area of Science:
- Child development
- Linguistics
- Developmental psychology
Background:
- Maternal speech is crucial for infant language acquisition.
- The bidirectional influence between maternal speech and infant characteristics is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how infants influence maternal speech quantity and quality.
- To examine the impact of maternal speech on children's language development.
Main Methods:
- 189 mothers interacted with their 5-month-old twins.
- Maternal speech was analyzed for quantity, sensitivity, and self-repetition.
- Children's language comprehension and production were assessed at 18 months, 2.5 years, and 5 years.
Main Results:
- Maternal speech quantity predicted language at 5 years.
- Speech sensitivity predicted language at 2.5 and 5 years.
- Infant characteristics influenced maternal speech quality, particularly sensitivity and partial self-repetition.
Conclusions:
- Maternal speech quantity and quality significantly impact child language development.
- Infant characteristics play a role in shaping maternal speech patterns.
- A bidirectional relationship exists between maternal speech and child development.
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