Developmental trajectories of early mother-child interactions and extra-dyadic interactions with a new social partner

Introduction: Mother-child interactions during feeding/playing support the development of the infants’ social communication abilities (Meins, 2011; Stern, 1995; Biringen, 2000). However, the relations between the quality of these interactions and toddler’s social communicative competencies in extra-dyadic interactions have been rarely explored (Fadda, Lucarelli, Parisi, 2014). Aims of the study: We investigated longitudinally the interconnections between mother-child interactions and child’s communicative abilities in extra-dyadic interactions with a new social partner. Our ongoing research is supported by grants from PRIN 2013/2016-20107JZAF4, Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research (MIUR). Material and Methods: Mother-child interactions during feeding and playing were examined in 20 dyads, using the “Feeding Scale” (Chatoor et al., 1998; Ammaniti et al., 2006) and “Play Scale” (Chatoor et al., 1997) procedures to show interdyadic differences. Moreover, we analyzed the socio-communicative abilities of the toddlers with a new social partner using the “Early Social Communication Scales” (Mundy et al., 2003). The dyads were evaluated at T1 when the children (19 M) aged between 9-22 months (mean age=14 months; SD=3), and after 6 months at T2. Results: The results indicate dynamic and transient interdyadic differences over time. 27 % of the dyads that showed a functional interaction at T1 (high dydiadic reciprocity and low dyadic conflict) showed an interactional dysfunction at T2 (lower dyadic reciprocity and higher dyadic conflict). 44% of the dyads that showed a dysfunctional interaction at T1 showed a functional interaction at T2. Moreover, at T1, the infants belonging to dyads with transient interactional dysfunction were significantly lower in Responding to Joint Attention (RJA) in interaction with a new social partner, compared to the infants belonging to dyads with functional interaction (t(17)= 2.7; p<.05). At T2 these results were confirmed. Conclusions: This follow-up study showed a stable relation over time between mother-child interactions and child’s social communicative competencies.