Estilo interactivo y su relación con el tipo de actividad

Resumen

Se ha detectado que durante el desarrollo infantil cada diada madre-hijo adopta su propio estilo de interactión, es decir siempre hay aspectos que diferencian a una diada de otra y esto permite hablar de diferentes estilos y/o patrones interactivos, cuyo estudio es importante para explicar la variabilidad en el desarrollopsicológico infantil. Existen factores como el nivel de escolaridad, la edad del niño, el tipo de actividad infantil, que pueden repercutir en la forma en la cual la madre se relaciona con el niño. Con el fin de esclarecer los efectos que pudiera tener una de estas variables, como el tipo de actividad verbal o motriz, se planteó como objetivo de este trabajo analizar la interacción diádica madre-hijo en dos tareas diferentes. Se utilizaron 17 diadas, cuyo nivel socioeconómico era de clase media. Se llevaron a cabo 4 sesiones para filmar la interacción madre-hijo en cuatro diferentes juegos estructurados. Las instruccionespara cada sesión enfatizaban la realización de la actividad en forma conjunta. Una vez obtenidas las filmaciones se codificó en base a las categorías diseñadas para evaluar los estilos maternos. Los resultados muestran que los estilos varían en función del tipo de tarea. Estos resultados coinciden con el planteamiento de algunos autores, en términos de que existen variables que afectan a la interacción tal como el tipo de actividad que se realiza entre el niño y la madre

Abstract

Studies show that in the course of children's development each mother-child dyad adopts its own interactive style; that is, there are always some factors which differ between dyads. This allows us to speak of different interactive styles and/or patterns. Their study is important to explain variability in psychological development. Certain factors, such as, maternal education, child's age, type of activity, and dyadic interactive situation, can influence the way a mother behaves with her child. Thus the present study sought to analyse the effect of type of activity—verbal or motor activity—on the interaction. For this purpose 17 mother-child dyads, of medium socioeconomic level, participated in four sessions. Mother-child interaction was video-taped under two different conditions while they engaged in four types of structured play. Instructions for each session stressed the joint nature of the activity. Video-tapes were coded with an (eleven category) taxonomy designed to evaluate maternal interactive styles. The results, in line with current research, show that maternal interaction varies as a function of type of task or activity

Extended Summary

During a child's development, each mother-child dyad adopts its own style of interaction. In other words, each dyad is affected by different agents, underlining the existence of different interactive styles and/or patterns. Their study is important to help explain variability in psychological development. Although each dyad adopts its own style, psychological studies have detailed a number of factors that influence mother-child interaction and affects the way the mother relates to her child. These factors are, among others, parental education level, family size, birth order, child's age, type of activity during the interaction, and context of the interaction.

It is also possible to identify which maternal styles of interaction are better for promoting language development. Mothers establish forms of communication with their child by asking questions about objects and making comments about events or objects that may be either present or absent in the interaction. This gives the child the opportunity to answer, and allows the mother to evaluate the answer and then approve it or correct it.

Thus, the purpose of the study was to analyse the effect of one of these variables, specifically verbal and motor activity, on mother-child interaction. 17 middle-class mother-child dyads participated in the study. Each dyad took part in four sessions, video-taped for later analysis, in which they engaged in four types of structured play. Instructions for each session stressed the joint nature of the activity. Observation categories were designed to evaluate maternal interactive styles.

The results show that maternal interaction varies depending on the activity. That is, the type of activity mother carry out with their child, whether verbal or motor, is an important variable influencing dyadic interactive style. During verbal activities, mothers «request information» and «make comments»; establishing forms of communication with their child through questions and comments which guide the activity. During motor activities, mothers «indicate» and «show» their child what to do in order to capture the child's attention and/or and get him/her to repeats her actions. In sum, the present results are in line with those obtained by other authors supporting that certain variables -such as the type of activity- affect mother-child interaction.

Palabras clave:

• Desarrollo infantil
• actividades verbales y motoras
• estilos maternos

Keywords:

• Child development
• verbal and motor activities
• maternal styles