Effects of maternal attention-directing strategies on preterms' response to toys☆

Abstract The relationship between maternal attention-directing strategies in 12-month play interactions and infant response level was investigated for 40 preterm (subdivided into two risk groups) and 20 full-term infants. Mothers use of particular strategies (i.e., maintenance of infants' interests and use of verbal and nonverbal techniques that focus attention, were hypothesized to affect the various infant risk groups in different ways. Results indicated that mothers of preterms used different attention-directing strategies than mothers of full-terms. Mothers of preterms could be further differentiated by the severity of their infants' medical complications. These differences did not, however, adversely affect infant response level. Mothers across the three infant groups used strategies that facilitated infants' manipulation of toys. Discrepancies between the mothers of preterms and full-terms in their use of particular verbal and nonverbal techniques (e.g., questions, attention-directing gestures) can be explained in part by the relationship between the use of these techniques and the infants' developmental level.

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