Developmental Transactions Between Infant Gaze and Maternal Responsiveness and Measures of Social-Emotional Competence in Toddlerhood

Vollständiger Abstract

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Background: Infants and their caregivers reciprocally influence each other through transactions within everyday activities, facilitating further child development. Objectives: This study assessed a transactional pathway between infant gaze capacities and maternal responsiveness across development and associations with child joint engagement at 24 months and social-emotional competence at 36 to 42 months of age. Methodology: Videos of mother–child play at 2, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months were used to behaviorally code infant gaze, maternal responsiveness, and child joint engagement. Mothers completed a parent-report measure of social-emotional competence about their child at 36 to 42 months. Structural equation modeling tested the developed transactional model. Results: The proposed transactional pathway between infant person-gaze capacities and maternal responsivity across 2 to 18 months mediated joint engagement, while joint engagement was associated with social-emotional competence. Conclusion: Transactions occurring within play occupations between infants and caregivers across early development are critical for development of social-emotional competencies.