Teaching or Learning from Baby: Inducing Explicit Parenting Goals Influences Caregiver Intrusiveness

Resumen

Parents’ goals influence their interactions with their children. In this pre-registered study, we examined whether directing parents to teach their baby versus learn from their baby influences the extent to which they engage in intrusive caregiving behavior. Mother¬s and their 6-month-old infants (N=66; 32 female infants) participated in a 10-minute “free play” interaction, coded in 2-minute epochs for degree of maternal intrusiveness. Prior to the final epoch, mothers were randomly assigned to receive instructions to focus on 1) teaching something to their infant; or 2) learning something from their infant. Analyses of within-person changes in intrusiveness from before to after receiving these instructions indicated that mothers assigned to teach their infant increased in intrusiveness, whereas mothers assigned to learn from their infant decreased in intrusiveness. Parents’ explicit goals regarding infant learning can lead to controlling and adult-centered caregiving behavior.

Áreas y palabras clave

Cómo citar (APA 7)

King, L., Hill, K. E., Rangel, E., Gotlib, I., & Humphreys, K. (2021). Teaching or Learning from Baby: Inducing Explicit Parenting Goals Influences Caregiver Intrusiveness. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/g9rvn