1. Infant and mother–infant play and the presence of the television
- Author
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Elise Frank Masur and Valerie Flynn
- Subjects
business.industry ,Ecological validity ,Mother infant ,Social environment ,Observational methods in psychology ,Social relation ,Developmental psychology ,Mother child interaction ,behavior and behavior mechanisms ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,Observational study ,business ,Psychology ,human activities ,Social psychology ,Mass media - Abstract
Forty-eight middle-class mothers answered questionnaires about their 11-through 18-month-old infants' typical television watching and interest, the frequency and duration of their independent play with toys and dyadic play with and without toys, and whether the television was typically on or not on in the room at the time. Mothers reported that most infants had little interest in and spent little time actively watching television. However, mothers reported the television was typically turned on in the room at least half the time during independent play with toys for 44% of infants and during dyadic play with toys for 53% of infants. These findings provide evidence relevant to researchers' and practitioners' concerns regarding the potential negative impact of television's presence on infant development, mother–child interaction, and the ecological validity of observational research methods involving play or interactions in the absence of a television.
- Published
- 2008
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