Patterns of communications mothers use when their attention is divided
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Aim: Maternal sensitivity is defined as a mother’s ability to see things from their child’s point of view, to notice their child’s signals, interpret them, and respond to them promptly and appropriately (Ainsworth et al., 1974). A special opportunity to assess maternal sensitivity lies in situations where the mother needs to attend to other competing events and her attention is divided. The purpose of the study is to describe the strategies mothers use in interaction with their toddlers in situations where they have to focus on another task. Methods: Video recordings of home visits collected between September 2016 and July 2017 will be used for detailed description of strategies mothers choose in interaction with a toddler while they are supposed to focus on another task. A subgroup of mothers who participated in a longitudinal online survey was recruited for home visits and observation. Each home visit scenario consisted of 8 different situations. The presentation focuses on a situation where mothers are asked to fill in a questionnaire while their child is left alone with them in the same room (the researchers leave the room). The video recordings will be analysed with the aim to describe and define patterns of communication and strategies mothers use to create a space for themselves and the questionnaire they have to fill in. Results: Preliminary findings based on c.30 mother-toddler dyads will be presented. The behaviour of both the child and the mother will be described in terms of verbal and non verbal interactions, maternal sensitivity and patterns of communication (such as strategies mothers use to keep the child occupied or to set the boundaries and their effectiveness, as well as the frequency of interaction) will be described in details. Conclusions: The strategies will be discussed in the context of maternal characteristics obtained from self-reports. |
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