1,721,006 research outputs found
Nouns and verbs in the vocabulary acquisition of Italian children
No full textThe vocabulary development of 24 Italian children aged between 1;4 and 1;6 at the beginning of the study was longitudinally monitored on a monthly basis using the Italian version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory drawn up by their mothers. This study analyzes data from children for whom two sampling stages were available; the first corresponding to a vocabulary size as close as possible to 200 words (mean 217, range 167-281), the second to a vocabulary size ranging from 400 to 650 words (mean 518, range 416-648). The children's vocabulary composition was analyzed by calculating, for each sampling stage, the percentage of common nouns, verbs and closed-class words. The increase in percentage points of the various lexical items between the first and second sampling stages was also analyzed. Data confirmed the predominance of nouns over verbs and closed-class words at both sampling stages, while verbs and closed-class words showed a higher percentage increase than nouns. The results provide evidence that children who reached the first sampling point at an earlier age had a higher percentage of nouns than children who reached the same stage at an older age. However, in the passage from the first to the second sampling point no relationship emerged between a style of acquisition based on the acquisition of nouns and an increase in the rate of vocabulary growth
Does prosody make the difference? A meta-analysis on relations between prosodic aspects of infant-directed speech and infant outcomes
Full text linkInfant-directed speech (IDS) is the particular voice register observed in the majority of parents in interaction with their infants and differs from natural speech used in conversations with adults by showing exaggerated prosodic features. These prosodic features are supposed to have effects on regulating infant arousal and attention, fostering infant pre-linguistic and linguistic competences and enhancing the expression of positive affect. The present set of meta-analyses was conducted to test these associations and the role of moderators during the first two years of infant life. The results confirmed an overall association between IDS prosody and infant outcomes with prosodic values typical of IDS associated with better outcomes. This association was confirmed for attentional, pre-linguistic and linguistic outcomes with a greater effect on pre-linguistic than linguistic outcomes. An insufficient number of studies was found to test the association with infant emotion expression. Many limitations in the existing body of literature were found, such as a lack of empirical papers exploring IDS prosody in relation to infant outcomes using natural observations. The results and limitations were discussed in light of the necessity to examine the interplay between the quality of IDS prosody and other aspects of parental communicative and caregiving competences. To do so, the contribution of scholars from different fields is needed with the aim to fully understand the multidimensional determinants and influential mechanisms of IDS. © 2017 Elsevier Inc
The effect of the inclusive culture on workers’ well-being: the mediating role of the organizational identification on worker’s objectification
No full textSinging to infants matters: Early singing interactions affect musical preferences and facilitate vocabulary building
Full text linkThis research revealed that the frequency of reported parent-infant singing interactions predicted 6-month-old infants' performance in laboratory music experiments and mediated their language development in the second year. At 6 months, infants (n = 36) were tested using a preferential listening procedure assessing their sustained attention to instrumental and sung versions of the same novel tunes whilst the parents completed an ad-hoc questionnaire assessing home musical interactions with their infants. Language development was assessed with a follow-up when the infants were 14-month-old (n = 26). The main results showed that 6-month-olds preferred listening to sung rather than instrumental melodies, and that self-reported high levels of parental singing with their infants [i] were associated with less pronounced preference for the sung over the instrumental version of the tunes at 6 months, and [ii] predicted significant advantages on the language outcomes in the second year. The results are interpreted in relation to conceptions of developmental plasticity
Syntax and prosody in narratives: A study of preschool children
No full textThe present study examines narrative competence and its relationships with syntactic and prosodic skills in preschool children. The narrative skills of 30 typically developing Italian children were assessed during their first year of kindergarten attendance (T1) and again one year later (T2). A picture book was used to elicit children’s narratives. All stories were examined for narrative competence, syntactic complexity and prosody. The results are discussed in the context of the relationships between prosody and the other linguistic skills, considering that the children who were more proficient storytellers and exhibited better syntactic construction were generally less able to produce their utterances within a single melodic contour. Therefore, the linguistic and cognitive abilities required by a storytelling task may negatively influence a child’s ability to produce sentences within a single melodic contour
Characteristics of maternal input to children with Down syndrome: A comparison with vocabulary size and chronological age-matched groups
No full text The lexical and structural characteristics of the maternal input addressed to 24-month-old children with Down syndrome were compared to the input addressed to two groups of typically developing children; matched for chronological age (CA Group) and lexical skills (Vocabulary Group), respectively. The aim of the study was to verify whether the characteristics of the language addressed to children with Down syndrome are oversimplified, as found in previous studies, or if they are appropriate for the children’s developmental level. Data analyses show that the lexicon directed towards these children is simpler than that addressed to both of the comparison groups in terms of vocabulary composition (fewer function words and more onomatopoeic words/routines) and simpler than that addressed to the CA Group in terms of lexical variability. However, in terms of syntactic complexity, the input is mid-way between the two comparison groups. In addition, the analysis of maternal imitative utterances shows that the children with Down syndrome receive a lower proportion of imitative utterances than could be expected based on their age. </jats:p
The Influence of Insecure Romantic Attachment on Generativity
No full textExisting research concerning the development of generativity, the capacity to provide care and guidance to future generations, has primarily focused on the role of sociodemographic variables. However, one important feature that might be of importance for the study of generativity is insecure romantic attachment, given its influence on how people establish relationships with others. Still, the role of the two dimensions of insecure romantic attachment (i.e., anxiety and avoidance) on the most studied aspects of generativity (i.e., generative concern and generative acts) remains largely underexplored. Therefore, the present study investigates what contributes to generativity by exploring the role of sociodemographic features (i.e., age, gender, having children, years of education) and above all the two dimensions of insecure romantic attachment on generative concern and acts. A sample of 427 adults (age range: 25–65 years old) completed an online survey including romantic attachment and generativity measures. Afterwards, correlational and regression analyses were conducted to explore the data. Results showed that years of education positively predicted generative concern, whereas both anxiety and avoidance negatively predicted it. Yet, no sociodemographic feature nor dimension of insecure romantic attachment predicted generative acts. Thus, insecure romantic attachment could be a useful key to understanding generative concern. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
Preterm birth enhances the contribution of mothers' mind-mindedness to infants' expressive language development: A longitudinal investigation
No full textMaternal mind-mindedness has been shown to be a powerful predictor of many developmental outcomes and to buffer the impact of psychosocial risk conditions, but no study has investigated whether this parental feature might support child development in the presence of biological risk, such as preterm birth. The present study addresses this gap, by investigating whether early maternal mind-mindedness contributes to the growth of a child's linguistic abilities in the following two years of life, and if the contribution of this maternal feature might be stronger in the presence of preterm birth. Forty motherâchild dyads (twenty with a preterm infant) were followed longitudinally, with maternal mind-mindedness assessed at 14 months of age and child's expressive linguistic abilities at 24 and 36 months through observational measures. Multilevel models showed that linguistic abilities increased from 24 to 36 months of age, but that this increase was stronger in full-term infants. Maternal mind-mindedness also contributed to this growth, playing a stronger role in preterm infants than in full-term infants. Altogether, these findings contribute more deeply to the understanding of language development in preterm infants and of the joint contribution made by biological risk and environmental factors; from a practical standpoint, they suggest the importance of addressing mother's mind-mindedness in order to support child's language development
Parental relationships, emotion regulation and orthorexia: A study on adolescent athletes
No full textBackground: This study seeks to further our understanding of the factors associated with adolescent athletes and disordered eating, by expanding current research into a less-explored eating disorder known as orthorexia. Aim: The aim of the study is to explore the impact of parents' relationships and emotional regulation on the orthorexia nervosa (ON) tendencies of adolescent athletes. Methods: The participants were 303 adolescents, ranging from 15 to 17 years old, of which 139 participated in competitive sport, and 164 did not. Three self-report questionnaires were administered to assess orthorexia (ORTO-15), relationship with parents (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment) and emotion regulation (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire). Results: The results highlight that those who practice sports report higher levels of orthorexia, inadequate relationships with parents, as well as greater emotional regulation difficulties. Furthermore, inadequate parents' relationship predicts orthorexia while expressive emotional regulation mediates this relationship. Conclusion: These findings highlight how ON tendencies in athletes are linked to poor management of emotions combined with inadequate relationships with parents in terms of communication and affection. Implications for practice and support for athletes are discussed
Maternal dispositional mindfulness and mother–child relationship: The mediating role of emotional control during parenting
Full text linkBackgroundThe literature supports the role of parental dispositional mindfulness on parent-child relationship quality. However, little is known about the connection between these two aspects.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate whether emotion regulation during parenting, that is, the ability to control negative emotions, mediated the association between parental dispositional mindfulness and parent-child relationship quality. The study also explored the moderation role of child age on the association between parental dispositional mindfulness and parent's ability to control negative emotions during parenting.MethodsParticipants were 635 mothers of children aged between 12 months and 5 years. Mothers completed self-report questionnaires to measure maternal dispositional mindfulness, mother-child relationship quality and maternal control of negative emotions during parenting.ResultsResults showed that maternal ability to control negative emotions during parenting partially mediated the association between maternal dispositional mindfulness and mother-child relationship quality. Moreover, the moderation role of child age indicated that the association between maternal dispositional mindfulness and maternal ability to control negative emotions during parenting was stronger for older children's mothers.ConclusionDispositional mindfulness has a protective role for the quality of parenting and the mother-child relationship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed
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