Effects of multilingualism on Australian infants’ language environments in early childhood education centers

This study investigates differences in the language environments experienced by multilingual and monolingual infants in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. The Language Environment Analysis (LENA) technology was used to collect day-long audio-recordings from 181 one-year-old infants (age range from 12 to 21 months). We examined whether infants’ multilingual status predicts the amount of educators’ language input (adult word count, AWC), child vocalizations (CVC) and conversational turns (CTC), as well as interaction effects on AWC, CVC and CTC of infants’ multilingual status and other infant, home and ECEC characteristics. Multilevel mixed effects models revealed no main effect of infants’ multilingual status on the language environment outcome variables. Instead, infant gender significantly predicted adult word count, with female infants hearing more words from educators than male infants. There was a significant interaction effect between the infants’ multilingual status and both their age and length of time in an ECEC setting on child vocalizations. While monolingual infants produced more vocalizations as their age increased, multilingual infants did not show this increase in vocalizations with age. Further, the difference between monolingual and multilingual children’s vocalizations decreased as the length of time in ECEC increased. There were no significant predictors of conversational turns. Findings from this study suggest that early childhood educators do not adjust their talk according to the multilingual status of the infants. However, multilingual infants do not increase their vocalizations as their age increases to the same extent as do their monolingual peers. The interaction effect between multilingualism and the length of ECEC attendance also implies that ECEC environments may be particularly beneficial for supporting multilingual infants’ vocalizations. This study highlights the need to provide pedagogical support to educators to help them to encourage multilingual infants’ vocalizations in ECEC settings.     

Parent coaching at 6 and 10 months improves language outcomes at 14 months: A randomized controlled trial

Previous studies reveal an association between particular features of parental language input and advances in children's language learning. However, it is not known whether parent coaching aimed to enhance specific input components would (a) successfully increase these components in parents' language input and (b) result in concurrent increases in children's language development. The present randomized controlled trial assigned families of typically developing 6‐month‐old infants to Intervention (parent coaching) and Control (no coaching) groups. Families were equivalent on socioeconomic status, infants' gender, and infants' age. Parent coaching took place when infants were 6 and 10 months of age, and included quantitative and qualitative linguistic feedback on the amount of child‐directed speech, back‐and‐forth interactions, and parentese speech style. These variables were derived from each family's first‐person LENA recordings at home. Input variables and infant language were measured at 6, 10, and 14 months. Parent coaching significantly enhanced language input as measured by two social interaction variables: percentage of speech directed to the child and percentage of parentese speech. These two variables were correlated, and were both related to growth in infant babbling between 6 and 14 months. Intervention infants showed greater growth in babbling than Control infants. Furthermore, at 14 months, Intervention infants produced significantly more words than Control infants, as indicated by LENA recordings and parent report via the MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory. Together, these results indicate that parent coaching can enrich specific aspects of parental language input, and can immediately and positively impact child language outcomes. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/7wqR28gPiwo     

Associations among average parental educational attainment,maternal stress,and infant screen exposure at 6 months of age

Evidence suggests that increased use of screens early in life may have negative developmental consequences for children. However, little is known concerning parental factors that predict initial screen exposure in infancy. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether parental educational attainment and maternal stress were associated with infant screen exposure by 6 months of age. A diverse sample of mothers (N = 93) was recruited prenatally. In a follow-up visit when the infants were six months of age (N = 82), we examined factors that may be associated with initial infant exposure to screens. First, mothers reported whether they had already exposed their infants to screens. Thereafter, those mothers who reported already having exposed their infants to screens were further queried to determine the extent of infant screen use. Results demonstrated that among infants exposed to screens, mothers reported an average of nearly 3 h of daily screen use. Average parental educational attainment, but not maternal stress, was significantly associated with initial infant exposure. Of those families who endorsed screen exposure by 6 months, 70 % reported a screen in the room where the child sleeps, nearly half reported using screens to help calm the infant, and about a third reported using a screen at least sometimes during meals, when going to sleep, and while waiting. Parental education around infant screen use behaviors may be important to help promote child development and outcomes.     

家庭社会经济地位对幼儿词汇理解的影响：多重中介效应分析

摘 要 目的：探讨家庭阅读环境（HLE）和电子媒介暴露在家庭社会经济地位（SES）和幼儿词汇理解间的中介作用。 方法：使用家庭基本信息调查表、家庭阅读环境问卷、皮博迪图片词汇测验对278名幼儿及其父母进行调查。 结果：（1）SES、HLE各维度（除hle5）与词汇理解呈显著正相关;电子屏幕使用时间与SES、HLE各维度和词汇理解呈显著负相关;（2）HLE和电子屏幕使用时间分别在SES和母亲受教育水平与幼儿词汇理解间起链式中介作用。 结论：HLE和电子屏幕使用时间在SES和幼儿词汇理解间起中介作用。     

Development of category formation for faces differing by age in 9‐ to 12‐month‐olds: An effect of experience with infant faces

We examined category formation for faces differing in age in 9‐ and 12‐month‐olds, and the influence of exposure to infant faces on such ability. Infants were familiarized with adult or infant faces, and then tested with a novel exemplar from the familiarized category paired with a novel exemplar from a novel category (Experiment 1). Both age groups formed discrete categories of adult and infant faces, but exposure to infant faces in everyday life did not modulate performance. The same task was conducted with child versus infant faces (Experiment 2). Whereas 9‐month‐olds preferred infant faces after familiarization with child faces, but not child faces after familiarization with infant faces, 12‐month‐olds formed discrete categories of child and infant faces. Moreover, more exposure to infant faces correlated with higher novel category preference scores when infants were familiarized with infant faces in 12‐month‐olds, but not 9‐month‐olds. The 9‐month‐old asymmetry did not reflect spontaneous preference for infant over child faces (Experiment 3). These findings indicate that 9‐ and 12‐month‐olds can form age‐based categories of faces. The ability of 12‐month‐olds to form separate child and infant categories suggests that they have a more exclusive representation of face age, one that may be influenced by prior experience with infant faces.     

When infants talk,infants listen: pre‐babbling infants prefer listening to speech with infant vocal properties

To learn to produce speech, infants must effectively monitor and assess their own speech output. Yet very little is known about how infants perceive speech produced by an infant, which has higher voice pitch and formant frequencies compared to adult or child speech. Here, we tested whether pre‐babbling infants (at 4–6 months) prefer listening to vowel sounds with infant vocal properties over vowel sounds with adult vocal properties. A listening preference favoring infant vowels may derive from their higher voice pitch, which has been shown to attract infant attention in infant‐directed speech (IDS). In addition, infants' nascent articulatory abilities may induce a bias favoring infant speech given that 4‐ to 6‐month‐olds are beginning to produce vowel sounds. We created infant and adult /i/ (‘ee’) vowels using a production‐based synthesizer that simulates the act of speaking in talkers at different ages and then tested infants across four experiments using a sequential preferential listening task. The findings provide the first evidence that infants preferentially attend to vowel sounds with infant voice pitch and/or formants over vowel sounds with no infant‐like vocal properties, supporting the view that infants' production abilities influence how they process infant speech. The findings with respect to voice pitch also reveal parallels between IDS and infant speech, raising new questions about the role of this speech register in infant development. Research exploring the underpinnings and impact of this perceptual bias can expand our understanding of infant language development.     

Media exposure and language experience: Examining associations from home observations in Mexican immigrant families in the US

The current exploratory study describes exposure to digital media in young children from Mexican immigrant homes and its association with language input and output. Using multiple recordings of children’s home environments, we report on the rate (i.e., percentage of total recording time), language (Spanish or English), and type (adult- or child-directed programming) of auditory media exposure in toddlers under three years of age (N = 30; M_age = 20;3 months). We also examine total adult words and adult-child conversational turns, as indicators of child language input, and the number of child language vocalizations as a measure of early language development. Findings showed that digital media comprised approximately 14 % of the child language environment that families selected to record, with wide variability observed. Children were more likely to be exposed to media in Spanish than English and adult-directed than child-directed programming. Children’s general media exposure was negatively associated with the amount of children’s vocalizations and conversational turns but not the quantity of adult words in the environment, suggesting that the relation between media exposure and child language development is likely not mediated by a general decrease in adult input in Mexican immigrant homes. Instead, media exposure may decrease opportunities for children to engage in conversation and practice language expression, both critical mechanisms for successful language acquisition. Selection of child-directed programming may encourage child vocalizations but is less likely to be in Spanish in these homes, which may reduce opportunities for engagement with Spanish-dominant adults. Together these findings provide a window into the nature of media exposure in children from Mexican immigrant homes and into the associations between media and language input and output. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Infant-adult vocal interaction dynamics depend on infant vocal type,child-directedness of adult speech,and timeframe

This study explored the temporal contingencies between infant and adult vocalizations as a function of the type of infant vocalization, whether adult caregivers’ vocalizations were infant-directed or other-directed, and the timescale of analysis. We analyzed excerpts taken from day-long home audio recordings that were collected from nineteen 12- to 13-month-old American infants and their caregivers using the LENA system. Three 5-minute sections having high child vocalization rates were identified within each recording and coded by trained researchers. Infant and adult vocalizations were sequenced and defined as contingent if they occurred within 1 s, 2 s, or 5 s of each other. When using 1 s or 2 s definitions of temporal adjacency, infant vocalizations generally predicted subsequent infant-directed adult vocalizations. A reflexive vocalization (i.e. a cry or a laugh) was the strongest predictor. Likewise, within 1–2 s timeframes, infant-directed adult speech generally predicted infant vocalizations with reflexive vocalizations being particularly predictive. Infant vocalizations predicted fewer subsequent other-directed adult vocalizations and were less likely following other-directed adult vocalizations when considering up to 5 s lags. This suggests an understudied communicative role for infants of non-infant-directed adult speech. These results demonstrate the importance of timescale in studying infant-adult interactions, support the communicative significance of reflexive infant vocalizations and other-directed adult speech in addition to more commonly studied vocalization types, and highlight the challenges of determining direction(s) of influence when using only two-event sequences.     

Maternal Mind-Mindedness and Children’s Behavioral Difficulties: Mitigating the Impact of Low Socioeconomic Status

Relations between mothers’ tendency to comment appropriately on their 8-month-olds’ internal states (mind-mindedness) and children’s behavioral difficulties (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) at ages 44 and 61 months were investigated in a socially diverse sample (N?=?171, 88 boys). Controlling for maternal depressive symptoms, perceived social support, sensitivity, child language ability, and child gender, maternal mind-mindedness was negatively related to children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors specifically in low socioeconomic status (SES) families. Furthermore, behavioral difficulties at age 44 months mediated the relation between maternal mind-mindedness and behavioral difficulties at age 61 months, but only for low SES families. These findings are discussed with reference to possible ways in which mind-mindedness could inform interventions targeted at at-risk groups.     

Why won’t she sleep? Screen exposure and sleep patterns in young infants

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends infants’ exposure to electronic screen-based media be minimized; however, more research is needed to understand effects of viewing screen-based media. Here, we examine relations between media use and sleep. Data were collected from mothers when their infants (N = 429) were four months of age. Mothers answered questions about the time their infants spent watching electronic screen-based media. Exposure to electronic screen-based media was negatively associated with nighttime sleep (but not daytime sleep), such that an hour of screen time was associated with nearly 13 min less sleep on a typical night.     

Infant crying,risk status and social support in families of preterm and term infants

Infant crying influences the caregiver and the broader caregiving environment. In this study, cry acoustics were recorded and acoustically analyzed from a sample of fullterm and preterm infants at 40 weeks gestational age, along with the medical risk and socioeconomic status (SES) of the family. Following factor analysis of the cry acoustics, cry factors, along with medical risk and SES were used to predict patterns of social support in the informal (family, friends) and formal (health care providers) social support networks at 44 weeks gestational age. One cry factor, temporal patterning, indicative of the influence of respiratory factors on the infant's cry, predicted a significant amount of variance in the amount of support from the informal network, beyond that predicted from medical risk and SES. Medical risk alone predicted the amount of contact with the formal network, and SES predicted satisfaction with help from the formal network. There were different patterns of relationship between cry acoustics and social support for families with term and preterm infants, indicating that caregivers may interpret and respond to different information in the acoustics of their infants' cries. These findings have implications for understanding how infant crying and behavior influence the caregiving environment and for the clinical management of early cry problems in families with infants differing in risk status. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What do bilingual infants actually hear? Evaluating measures of language input to bilingual‐learning 10‐month‐olds

Examining how bilingual infants experience their dual language input is important for understanding bilingual language acquisition. To assess these language experiences, researchers typically conduct language interviews with caregivers. However, little is known about the reliability of these parent reports in describing how bilingual children actually experience dual language input. Here, we explored the quantitative nature of dual language input to bilingual infants. Furthermore, we described some of the heterogeneity of bilingual exposure in a sample of French–English bilingual families. Participants were 21 families with a 10‐month‐old infant residing in Montréal, Canada. First, we conducted language interviews with the caregivers. Then, each family completed three full‐day recordings at home using the Language Environment Analysis recording system. Results showed that children’s proportion exposure to each language was consistent across the two measurement approaches, indicating that parent reports are reliable for assessing a bilingual child’s language experiences. Further exploratory analyses revealed three unique findings: (a) there can be considerable variability in the absolute amount of input among infants hearing the same proportion of input, (b) infants can hear different proportions of language input when considering infant‐directed versus overheard speech, (c) proportion of language input can vary by day, depending on who is caring for the infant. We conclude that collecting naturalistic recordings is complementary to parent‐report measures for assessing infant’s language experiences and for establishing bilingual profiles.     

Learning how to learn from social feedback: The origins of early vocal development

Infants’ prelinguistic vocalizations reliably organize vocal turn-taking with social partners, creating opportunities for learning to produce the sound patterns of the ambient language. This social feedback loop supporting early vocal learning is well-documented, but its developmental origins have yet to be addressed. When do infants learn that their non-cry vocalizations influence others? To test developmental changes in infant vocal learning, we assessed the vocalizations of 2- and 5-month-old infants in a still-face interaction with an unfamiliar adult. During the still-face, infants who have learned the social efficacy of vocalizing increase their babbling rate. In addition, to assess the expectations for social responsiveness that infants build from their everyday experience, we recorded caregiver responsiveness to their infants’ vocalizations during unstructured play. During the still-face, only 5-month-old infants showed an increase in vocalizing (a vocal extinction burst) indicating that they had learned to expect adult responses to their vocalizations. Caregiver responsiveness predicted the magnitude of the vocal extinction burst for 5-month-olds. Because 5-month-olds show a vocal extinction burst with unfamiliar adults, they must have generalized the social efficacy of their vocalizations beyond their familiar caregiver. Caregiver responsiveness to infant vocalizations during unstructured play was similar for 2- and 5-month-olds. Infants thus learn the social efficacy of their vocalizations between 2 and 5 months of age. During this time, infants build associations between their own non-cry sounds and the reactions of adults, which allows learning of the instrumental value of vocalizing.     

Cortisol reactivity and negative affect among preterm infants at 12 months during a mother-infant interaction task

The purpose of this study was to investigate correlates of preterm (PT) infant’s cortisol reactivity and the association to infant negative affect, during a mother-infant interaction procedure. Participants included 48 infants born prematurely (gestational age < 37 weeks) and their mothers, assessed when infants were 12 months old corrected for prematurity. The examined variables comprised both neonatal and environmental dimensions including maternal interactive behavior. Infant negative affect and maternal interactive behavior were assessed with a standardized mother-infant interaction task. A baseline infant saliva sample was collected before the interaction began, and a second sample after the interaction episodes ended. Results revealed that decrease of infant’s cortisol concentration was significantly associated with the exposure to more sensitive, and less intrusive maternal behaviors. However, once controlled for neonatal risk, family SES and maternal psychological distress, the associations were rendered non-significant. Although the association between cortisol reactivity and negative affect trended toward significance, maternal intrusiveness was the only significant predictor of observed infant negative affect. Findings suggest the importance of primary relational experiences on PT infants' early regulatory competencies.     

Influences of maternal postpartum depression on fathers and on father–infant interaction

Maternal postpartum depression (PPD) has been shown to negatively influence mother–infant interaction; however, little research has explored how fathers and father–infant interaction are affected when a mother is depressed. This study examined the influence of maternal PPD on fathers and identified maternal and paternal factors associated with father–infant interaction in families with depressed as compared with nondepressed mothers. A convenience sample of 128 mother–father–infant triads, approximately half of which included women with significant symptoms of PPD at screening, were recruited from a screening sample of 790 postpartum women. Mothers and fathers completed measures of depression, marital satisfaction, and parenting stress at 2 to 3 months' postpartum and were each videotaped interacting with their infants. Results indicate that maternal PPD is associated with increased paternal depression and higher paternal parenting stress. Partners of depressed women demonstrated less optimal interaction with their infants, indicating that fathers do not compensate for the negative effects of maternal depression on the child. Although mother–infant interaction did not influence father–infant interaction, how the mother felt about her relationship with the infant did, even more so than maternal depression. The links between maternal PPD, fathers, and father–infant interaction indicate a need for further understanding of the reciprocal influences between mothers, fathers, and infants.     

Pathways from infant exposure to marital conflict to parent–toddler role reversal

We know that exposure to marital conflict places infants at risk, but we know less about processes. One process may be role reversal, when a distressed parent looks to the child to meet unmet needs for comfort, intimacy, or companionship. A parent in marital conflict may be particularly prone to role reversal, which in turn adversely affects child development. The current study examined pathways from infants' exposure to marital conflict at 12 months to role reversal at 24 months. We sampled low–middle socioeconomic status (SES) families with their first child (N = 128). Independent observers assessed marital conflict (in a problem‐solving task) and role reversal (in a story‐telling task). We found that each parent's conflict behavior predicted the other parent's role reversal. In a direct pathway, mother's conflict behavior towards father led directly to father's role reversal with the child. In an indirect pathway, father's conflict behavior towards mother led to his withdrawal from her, which in turn led to mother's role reversal with the child. Clinical implications are discussed within a developmental psychopathology framework in terms of preventive interventions to offset the deleterious effect of marital conflict and role reversal on child development.     

The melody of surprise: maternal surprise vocalizations during play with her infant

Two groups of mothers and their infants (24 infants, mean age=3.5 months and 24 infants, mean age=5.5 months) were video‐ and audio‐taped in their homes while playing with a Jack‐in‐the‐box. The mean fundamental frequency of spontaneous surprise exclamations of mothers when opening the toy were analysed, and infant and maternal facial expressions of surprise were coded in three regions of the face. A t‐test established that significantly more of the older children in comparison with younger children showed surprise (t=?2.96, df=46, p<0.005, 2‐tailed). Twenty‐nine per cent of the younger infants, in comparison with 67% of the older children showed facial expressions of surprise. A t‐test of maternal pitch height (Hz) indicated that mothers exclaimed in surprise with a higher pitch when the child did not show a surprise facial expression (mean=415.61 Hz) in comparison with the child showing surprise (mean=358.97 Hz; t=2.9, df=46, p=0.006, 2‐tailed). A multiple regression established that infant's expression was a stronger predictor of maternal vocal pitch than was the age of the infant. These results are discussed in terms of maternal use of emotional expressions as ‘social signals’. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Increasing parenting self-efficacy: The Fussy Baby Network® intervention

High levels of infant crying place families at risk for disrupted relationships, parenting stress, and even for child maltreatment. We conducted an evaluation of the Fussy Baby Network^® (FBN), a program supporting families struggling with infant crying and related concerns. The study contrasted 29 families who sought help from FBN with 27 families with excessively crying infants who did not seek services. Researchers measured parenting self-efficacy, depression, and stress in each group before and after the intervention. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated greater improvements over time in parenting self-efficacy for parents receiving FBN services. Furthermore, the greater improvements in parenting self-efficacy in the intervention group were not directly attributable to reductions in infant crying. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the FBN approach may be effective at boosting the confidence of parents struggling with caring for their infants. Future research with larger samples with baseline equivalence and stronger research designs should explore this intervention further. This study also suggests that interventions for families with excessively crying infants should move beyond the focus of reducing infant crying to a broader strategy of supporting parents and strengthening relationships between parents and their infants to build parenting capacity.     

Patterning of infant vocal behavior

Three-month-old infants received two consecutive 5-minute periods of adult social stimulation. In both periods the adult talked, smiled, and touched the infant and in a natural manner tried to elicit vocalizations from the infant. In the first period the adult became unresponsive for 5 sec contingent upon each infant vocalization (time-out, negative reinforcement). In the second period the infant received the same number of time-out periods at the same intervals but independently of vocal responding (yoked, noncontingent control). Negative reinforcement did not suppress infant vocal rate, but the contingent withdrawal of social stimulation did cause the infant to pause more frequently between vocal responses. These pauses generally occurred immediately after the contingently, as compared with the noncontingently, delivered time-out period. The infant appears to recognize the difference between contingent and noncontingent stimulation and pauses after the occurrence of the former. Adult social reinforcement changes the pattern and not the rate of infant vocal responding.     

SES differences in language processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months

This research revealed both similarities and striking differences in early language proficiency among infants from a broad range of advantaged and disadvantaged families. English‐learning infants (n = 48) were followed longitudinally from 18 to 24 months, using real‐time measures of spoken language processing. The first goal was to track developmental changes in processing efficiency in relation to vocabulary learning in this diverse sample. The second goal was to examine differences in these crucial aspects of early language development in relation to family socioeconomic status (SES). The most important findings were that significant disparities in vocabulary and language processing efficiency were already evident at 18 months between infants from higher‐ and lower‐SES families, and by 24 months there was a 6‐month gap between SES groups in processing skills critical to language development.