Parent-child interactions during informal problem-solving: a longitudinal analysis of maternal scaffolding and child development

Abstract

The importance of parents' contingent instructions during problem-solving interactions has been documented through research in both laboratory and home settings. Using the scaffolding paradigm, this study investigated the long-term patterns of parents' instructional behaviors and the consequences of parents' contingent instructions, as well as related child behaviors during both interactions with their parents and independent problem-solving tasks. Subjects were 45 mother-child dyads who were observed during informal problem-solving interactions at four time points across a 3-year period (children aged 16, 26, 44, and 54 months). The observed parent and child behaviors can be categorized by (a) patterns of change across time, (b) stability of behavior across time, and (c) prediction of child independent success. First, across the 3-year period mothers showed systematic decreases in their levels of support and increases in their use of contingent instruction, while children became increasingly more successful in their behaviors during the interactions. Second, surprisingly there was little or no stability across time for individual mother and child behaviors. As a group, mothers and children became more successful at working together during the problem-solving tasks, but each parent and each child was not consistent in their behavior from one time period to the next. Finally, at earlier ages there was an indirect link between parents' behaviors and independent child success, while at 54 months there was both a direct effect of parents' behavior and a direct effect of previous child ability in predicting later independent child success.