Abstract
Research into social influences on young children’s growing understanding of others’ inner states has highlighted the value of early conversational exchanges. This longitudinal study was aimed at investigating whether and how mothers changed their inner state words when children were 16 months olds (T1) and 4 months later (T2), and the children’ s ability to use references to mental states at 20 months. Overall language measures (e.g. number of words, mean length utterances) and internal state labels were analyzed during play interactions at T1 and T2 for the mothers, and at T2 for the children. Results highlighted that the mothers partially modified their mentalistic vocabulary over 4 months. Moreover, the use of maternal references directed to the other at T1 is linked to the children’s ability to use references with a commentary function at T2. Conversation with the caregivers during daily activity may constitute, for children, a key practice to enhance their metarepresentation skills.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
In order to accurately clarify our codes of the caregiver–child conversations, we reported some examples below. The terms linked to mental state talk and references are underlined.
Sixteen-Month-Old Children
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(1)
Child: She puts a piece of Lego on another
Mother: “Good Livia!” (Volitional term referred to child)
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(2)
Child: He throws down the pieces of Lego
Mother: “You’re angry today!” (Emotional term referred to child)
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(3)
Child: He feeds the teddy bear
Mother: “Pippo is really hungry” (Physiological term referred to Other)
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(4)
Child: “Dadada” (She takes a little pony from the basket)
Mother: “Well, you want to play with pony” (Volitional term referred to child)
Twenty-Month-Old Children
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(1)
Child: She feeds more time the dolly
Mother: “Lilly is hungry, too” (Physiological term referred to Other)
Child: “Sauce” (She feeds the doll)
Mother: “She likes a lot” (Emotional term referred to Other)
Child “Like pappa” (Emotional term referred to Other)
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(2)
Child: “Uuh booboo (He looks a picture on the book)
Mother: “Yes, baby is crying, sad” (Emotional term referred to Other)
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(3)
Child: “Pretend” (pretends to eat an apple) (Cognition term referred to self)
Mother: “Do you like it?” (Emotional term referred to Child)
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(4)
Child: He does fall the ground a glass of water
Mother: “What a pest you are!” (Moral term referred to child)
Appendix 2
See Table 5.
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Longobardi, E., Lonigro, A. & Laghi, F. References to Mental States in Mother–Child Conversation in the Second Year of Life. J Child Fam Stud 25, 756–766 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0255-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0255-y