DiLalla, L.F., & Bishop, E G (1997). Mother-infant interactions: A twin perspective. Poster presented to the Society for Research on Child Development, April, Washington, D.C.

Investigations of how mothers and infants affect each other’s behaviors have had important implications for much of our understanding of how children learn skills relevant to later social and cognitive development. The present study examined whether differential maternal treatment of twins affected the twin’s on-task behaviors in a teaching interaction. 175 mothers and their same-sex 14-month-old twins were videotaped in their homes in triads and were re-tested at 24 and 36 months. Analyses showed that maternal control was related to children’s on-task behavior positively at 24 months and negatively at 36 months. Maternal warmth correlated positively with children’s on-task and attention behaviors. Differential maternal treatment also was related to children’s behaviors. When mothers were warmer to one child, that child worked on task more than the other child. However, when mothers spent more time with one child, that child spent less time working on task than the other child.