Beskrivelse
Monther-infant communication and cultural change in Germany – a comparison over 35 years (Poster Presentation) (Carolin Demuth, Carmen Königshofen, Heidi Keller & Meike Watzlawik) Protoconversation is assumed to be part of the intuitive parenting program and therefore has long been expected to have universal characteristics. A number of studies have, however, provided convincing evidence that mother-infant communication is inherently organized by cultural parental beliefs and broader cultural models of good child care. While there might be a biological component to infant-directed communication, the differences can be conceived as cultural manifestations towards desirable behavior in a specific socio-cultural context. The majority of these studies have focused on non-Western societies and on cross-cultural comparisons. A previous study by Demuth (2008) suggests that rhythmic, repetitive communicative patterns might be prototypical for traditional rural farmers in African contexts, while a strong emphasis on narrative-eliciting turn-taking might be prototypical for Western middle-class families. Socio-historical changes within a given society have, however, been rarely addressed so far. Individuation theory suggests that Western industrialized societies are experiencing an increased orientation towards independence, self-determination and with it an increased self-reflection expressed in autobiographical narratives for identity construction since the 1950s. In line with this theories, we can assume that these changes will also be recognisable in a change of communicative practices with infants over time. The current study compares mother-infant interactions in German middle class family cohorts in the years 1977/78, 1995/96 und 2010/11. A total of 60 mothers (20 in each cohort) were filmed with their 3-months-old infants at home during free play interactions. The video interactions were transcribed and coded with a coding manual comprising 21 variables derived inductive-deductively from existing literature as well as from the data itself. The variables covered autobiographical narrative and rhythmic-musical aspects of communication as well as child centred communicative strategies. Over the three cohorts, we expected to find an increase in autobiographical-narrative strategies (H1), a decrease in rhythmic-musical features (H2), and an increase in child-centred communication (H3). Codings were relativated against number of spoken words. A MANOVA and Bonferroni test were calculated (Wilks Lambda F(24,78) = 1.75, p <.05). For not normally distributed variables a Kruskal-Wallis-Test was conducted. Five variables showed a siginificant difference over the three cohorts: In line with our expectations, we found a decrease in „repetitions“, an increase in „imitation“. We-formulations showed an decrease from 1977 to 1995 but an increase from 1995 to 2011. Against our expectations, we found a decreease in „explicit narrative-eliciting“ over the three cohorts. Interestingly, we also found a siginificant increase in „commenting on own behavior“ which could be interpreted as increase of individual-centred communication on the mother’s part. The effects were controlled for infants’ gender as well as mothers’ age and educational level. The results reveal a clear trend towards increasing individual-centred communicative practices over the three cohorts, however, not an increase in auto-biographical narrative strategies. The findings support the assumption that broader socio-cultural ideologies influence parental communicative practices with infants. Possible consequences for developmental outcomes will be discussed.| Periode | 20 mar. 2015 |
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| Begivenhedstitel | Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development |
| Begivenhedstype | Konference |
| Placering | Philadelphia, USAVis på kort |