Research has shown the importance of reading, talking and singing in infant and toddler language development, and a new study examines the role of gender in these parent-child conversations.
The study, “Gender Differences in Adult-Infant Communication in the First Months of Life,” published in the December 2014 Pediatrics (published online Nov. 3), analyzed audio recordings taken at three points in time after the birth of 33 late preterm and term infants.
Researchers found infants from birth through age seven months were exposed to significantly more speech from mothers compared to fathers, and that those infants preferentially responded to mothers’ compared to fathers’ speech.
Studies conclude both mothers and fathers should be informed about the important benefits of parent talk for their child’s language development.
Listen in as Betty R. Vohr, MD, and Melanie Cole, MS, discuss the importance of communication during those early development stages.
Studies conclude both mothers and fathers should be informed about the important benefits of parent talk for their child’s language development.
Listen in as Betty R. Vohr, MD, and Melanie Cole, MS, discuss the importance of communication during those early development stages.
Betty R. Vohr, MD, has been the director of Women & Infants Hospital’s Neonatal Follow-up Clinic since 1974 and medical director of the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program since 1990. Dr. Vohr has been the national coordinator of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network follow-up studies since 1990. Dr. Vohr’s primary clinical and research interests focus on improving the long-term outcomes of high-risk premature infants and infants with hearing loss. She is participating in studies investigating the outcomes of premature infants and the outcomes of infants with hearing loss. She has published 200 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, as well as numerous textbook chapters.