Association of Social Referencing with Developmental Scores of Preschool
Children
U.Dhingra2, P. Verma1, P. Dhingra1, A. Sarkar1, M. Osmany1, R. Juyall1,
R.E. Black2, V.P Menon1, J. Kumar1, A. Dutta2, G.S. Hiremath2, B. Lozoff3,
M. Black4 and S. Sazawal1,2
1Center for Micronutrient Research, Annamalai
University, India
2Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
3 Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan,
MI, USA
4Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland, MD, USA
Although theoretical and empirical data support that social interaction
and social referencing are essential for normal child development but
objective evidence is lacking. We used novel computer based observations
to investigate the social referencing skills of the children. Social referencing
assessments were undertaken using The
Observer® 5.0 (Noldus InformationTechnology bv, The Netherlands) an
automated manual event recorder installed in a laptop. Behavioral observations
for 11 minutes among 1240 preschool children, in a playroom clinic setting
were conducted. Familiarization toys for first 5 minutes and 3 different
ambiguous stimulus toys for 2 minutes each were given to the child for
exploration. Social referencing skills of the child and parent child behavior,
in terms of Contact with Caregiver, Proximity to Mother; Mothers
Affect; Childs Affect; Latency to first touch to Distractor/ Stimulus
toy; Contact with Toy and Distance to Stimulus toy were coded during the
observation session. On the same day, developmental assessments of these
children were conducted using Bayleys Scales of Infant Development-
II and the outcomes being measured as psychomotor developmental index
(PDI) and mental developmental index (MDI). In order to examine the association
of social referencing skills with the mental and motor development, regression
model with five independent variables (child look, show, bid, offer or
verbalize with mother), child verbalizing mother about the toy was significantly
associated with MDI (ß=0.69, p<0.001) as well as PDI (ß=0.66,
p<0.001). This association was independently significant even when
covariates (durations of child smile, mother talking, no contact with
the toy and proximity to the mother) were entered in a multiple regression
model. Similarly, for PDI, child verbalizing mother was independently
associated even when covariates (durations of mom talk, wariness, no contact
with toy, smile, and away from mother), had a significant association
with the PDI outcome. Our results suggest that among the social referencing
skills only child looking and verbalizing mother have an independent association
with the overall mental and motor developmental outcomes indicating that
social and emotional behavior is a component of overall development.
Paper presented
at Measuring Behavior 2005
, 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques
in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The
Netherlands.
© 2005 Noldus
Information Technology bv
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