| Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to compare mothers' and fathers' speech to their preverbal infants in a teaching situation. Thirty-two parents of 16 8-month-olds were asked to teach their infants to put a small cube into a cup. Infant Gender (2) x Birth Order (2) x Parent (2) analyses of variance were performed with repeated measures on parent. Results indicated that fathers issued more utterances and used more words per utterance than did mothers. Although there was no difference in the proportion of imperatives used by mothers and fathers, fathers' imperatives were significantly longer than mothers'; this difference was not evident for utterances that contained indirect instructions. Mothers tended to use more exact repetitions. There were differences in parental speech related to infant gender: Parents directed more utterances, particularly utterances that contained negative statements, imperatives, and exhortations, to girls than to boys. Infant Gender x Parent effects for imperatives and exhortations indicated that these differences were especially true for fathers. Overall, it appeared that fathers made greater efforts to control the situation and to direct their infants' behavior, which might have reflected mothers' and fathers' different perceptions of both their infants' ability and their own role as teachers. |
