Development of self-produced locomotion in the first year: changes in parent perceptions and infant behaviour

Self‐produced locomotion is regarded as a setting event for other developmental transitions in infancy with important implications for socioemotional development and parent–child interaction. Using an age‐held‐constant design, this study examined changes in reported infant behaviour and maternal pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infant and child development 2011-05, Vol.20 (3), p.288-300
Main Authors: Hendrix, Rebecca R., Thompson, Ross A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Behavior Change
Child Development
Comparative Analysis
crawling
Infancy
Infant Behavior
Infants
Intergenerational relationships
Interviews
Locomotion
Longitudinal Studies
Mobility
Mothers
Motor ability
Observation
Parent Child Relationship
Parent-Child interactions
parent-child relations
Parents
Perceptions
Psychomotor Skills
transitions
United States (Midwest)
Young Children
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Summary:Self‐produced locomotion is regarded as a setting event for other developmental transitions in infancy with important implications for socioemotional development and parent–child interaction. Using an age‐held‐constant design, this study examined changes in reported infant behaviour and maternal proactive/reactive control and compared them with direct observations of infant and maternal behaviour associated with the development of self‐produced locomotion. Maternal reports were obtained prior to the locomotor transition and, for half the sample, after infants had transitioned to effective mobility. Observations of all infants were conducted shortly after the second interview. Prelocomotor and transitioning infants showed none of the expected behavioural differences (e.g. emotionality and compliance) associated with the locomotor transition. There was modest confirmation of expected differences in maternal behaviour, particularly in the use of reactive control techniques, and mothers of transitioning infants showed higher proactive controls before their infants began to crawl. These findings suggest that the changes in parent–child interaction associated with the locomotor transition may have as much to do with parental expectations than with changes in infant socioemotional behaviour. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1522-7227
1522-7219
1522-7219
DOI:10.1002/icd.695