Center for Development and Disability, 2300 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107, United States.
Infant Behav Dev. 2012 Dec;35(4):860-9. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.07.008. Epub 2012 Sep 14.
Children born very low birth weight (<1500 g, VLBW) are at increased risk for developmental delays. Play is an important developmental outcome to the extent that child's play and social communication are related to later development of self-regulation and effective functional skills, and play serves as an important avenue of early intervention. The current study investigated associations between maternal flexibility and toddler play sophistication in Caucasian, Spanish speaking Hispanic, English speaking Hispanic, and Native American toddlers (18-22 months adjusted age) in a cross-sectional cohort of 73 toddlers born VLBW and their mothers. We found that the association between maternal flexibility and toddler play sophistication differed by ethnicity (F(3,65) = 3.34, p = .02). In particular, Spanish speaking Hispanic dyads evidenced a significant positive association between maternal flexibility and play sophistication of medium effect size. Results for Native Americans were parallel to those of Spanish speaking Hispanic dyads: the relationship between flexibility and play sophistication was positive and of small-medium effect size. Findings indicate that for Caucasians and English speaking Hispanics, flexibility evidenced a non-significant (negative and small effect size) association with toddler play sophistication. Significant follow-up contrasts revealed that the associations for Caucasian and English speaking Hispanic dyads were significantly different from those of the other two ethnic groups. Results remained unchanged after adjusting for the amount of maternal language, an index of maternal engagement and stimulation; and after adjusting for birth weight, gestational age, gender, test age, cognitive ability, as well maternal age, education, and income. Our results provide preliminary evidence that ethnicity and acculturation may mediate the association between maternal interactive behavior such as flexibility and toddler developmental outcomes, as indexed by play sophistication. Addressing these association differences is particularly important in children born VLBW because interventions targeting parent interaction strategies such as maternal flexibility must account for ethnic-cultural differences in order to promote toddler developmental outcomes through play paradigms.
极低出生体重（<1500 克，VLBW）的儿童发育迟缓的风险增加。游戏是一种重要的发展结果，因为儿童的游戏和社会交往与自我调节和有效功能技能的后期发展有关，游戏是早期干预的重要途径。本研究在一个由 73 名 VLBW 出生的婴儿及其母亲组成的横断面队列中，调查了白种人、西班牙语裔西班牙人、英语裔西班牙人和美洲原住民婴儿（18-22 个月调整年龄）的母亲灵活性与幼儿游戏复杂性之间的关联。我们发现，母亲灵活性与幼儿游戏复杂性之间的关联因种族而异（F(3,65) = 3.34，p =.02）。特别是，西班牙语裔西班牙裔的母子关系显示出母亲灵活性与游戏复杂性之间存在显著的正相关，相关效应量为中等。美洲原住民的结果与西班牙语裔西班牙裔的母子关系相似：灵活性与游戏复杂性之间的关系是正相关的，且相关效应量为小-中。研究结果表明，对于白种人和英语裔西班牙人，灵活性与幼儿游戏复杂性之间的关联呈非显著（负相关，且效应量较小）。显著的后续对比表明，白种人和英语裔西班牙裔的母子关系与其他两个种族群体的关系显著不同。调整母亲语言量、母亲参与和刺激指数后，以及调整出生体重、胎龄、性别、测试年龄、认知能力以及母亲年龄、教育程度和收入后，结果保持不变。我们的研究结果提供了初步证据，表明种族和文化适应可能调节了母亲互动行为（如灵活性）与幼儿发展结果之间的关联，这以游戏复杂性为指标。在极低出生体重的儿童中，解决这些关联差异尤为重要，因为针对母亲互动策略（如灵活性）的干预措施必须考虑到种族文化差异，以便通过游戏模式促进幼儿的发展结果。
