title: Mother-Infant Contingent Vocalizations in 11 Countries.
abstract: Mother-infant vocal interactions serve multiple functions in child development, but it remains unclear whether key features of these interactions are community-common or community-specific. We examined rates, interrelations, and contingencies of vocal interactions in 684 mothers and their 5½-month-old infants in diverse communities in 11 countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, and the United States). Rates of mothers' and infants' vocalizations varied widely across communities and were uncorrelated. However, collapsing the data across communities, we found that mothers' vocalizations to infants were contingent on the offset of the infants' nondistress vocalizing, infants' vocalizations were contingent on the offset of their mothers' vocalizing, and maternal and infant contingencies were significantly correlated. These findings point to the beginnings of dyadic conversational turn taking. Despite broad differences in the overall talkativeness of mothers and infants, maternal and infant contingent vocal responsiveness is found across communities, supporting essential functions of turn taking in early-childhood socialization.
authors.affiliation: Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland Marc_H_Bornstein@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Marc H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bornstein
authors.affiliation: Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Diane L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Putnick
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Marymount University.
authors.forename: Linda R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Cote
authors.affiliation: Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: O Maurice
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.affiliation: Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Joan T D
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Suwalsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001118:Argentina; D001530:Belgium; D001938:Brazil; D002163:Cameroon; D002663:Child Language; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007557:Israel; D007558:Italy; D007564:Japan; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers; D056910:Republic of Korea; D014481:United States; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cross-cultural differences and similarities; language development