Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings: A Comparison of Play Styles and their Influence upon Infant Cognitive Level

This study compared mothers, fathers, and firstborn siblings on several types of experiences created for infants during dyadic play, and examined the relationship of these experiences to infant cognitive level. Seven experiences were coded from videotapes of 69 infants in dyadic play with mothers and firstborns at 12 months, and with mothers, fathers, and firstborns at 18 months. Mothers and fathers were more alike than different in the amounts of play experiences they created, and infants experienced a more linguistically and intellectually enriched environment with parents than with firstborns. Predictive, bidirectional relationships from 12 to 18 months were found between mother-created object play and infants' sophistication of solitary object play. In addition, infants' level of play at 12 months related to firstborn-created language mastery experiences at 18 months. No predictive relationships were found for infant cognitive level as measured by the Bayley MDI. Results are discussed in light of sample characteristics.