Infants' Background Television Exposure and Maternal Language Input: A Home Observation Study

Abstract

Parental reports and experimental studies indicate that parents speak less to their children in the presence of background television. However, there is a lack of home observations examining the relations between infants' background TV exposure and maternal infant-directed speech. In the current study, 32 infants and their mothers were observed for 60 minutes in their homes at 8, 10, and 18 months of age. Results revealed that the number of words, the number of different words, and the number of questions in infant-directed speech were consistently lower in households with background TV. Furthermore, these aspects of maternal language input were negatively related to the duration of background TV, controlling for families' socioeconomic background. These findings suggest that television may have a negative impact on young children's language development via disrupted parent-child interactions in the presence of background TV in the home environment. Ebeveynlerden al & imath;nan bildirimler ve deneysel & ccedil;al & imath;& scedil;malar, arka planda televizyon a & ccedil;& imath;kken ebeveynlerin & ccedil;ocuklar & imath;yla daha az konu & scedil;tuklar & imath;n & imath; g & ouml;stermektedir. Ancak, arka plan televizyon ile ebeveynlerin bebeklerine y & ouml;nelttikleri dil aras & imath;ndaki ili & scedil;kiyi inceleyen ev g & ouml;zlemlerine ihtiya & ccedil; duyulmaktad & imath;r. Bu & ccedil;al & imath;& scedil;mada, 32 bebek ve anneleri, bebekler 8, 10 ve 18 ayl & imath;kken evlerinde her ziyarette 60'ar dakika boyunca g & ouml;zlemlenmi & scedil;tir. Bulgular, arka planda televizyonun a & ccedil;& imath;k oldu & gbreve;u evlerde bebeklere y & ouml;neltilen dildeki toplam kelime say & imath;s & imath;n & imath;n, farkl & imath; kelime say & imath;s & imath;n & imath;n ve soru say & imath;s & imath;n & imath;n tutarl & imath; bi & ccedil;imde daha d & uuml;& scedil;& uuml;k oldu & gbreve;unu g & ouml;stermi & scedil;tir. Ayr & imath;ca, bu dil girdisi & ouml;l & ccedil;& uuml;tleri, ailelerin sosyoekonomik d & uuml;zeyi kontrol edildi & gbreve;inde, arka plan televizyon s & uuml;resiyle olumsuz y & ouml;nde ili & scedil;kili bulunmu & scedil;tur. Bu bulgular, televizyonun aktif olarak izlenmiyor olsa bile ebeveyn-& ccedil;ocuk etkile & scedil;imini s & imath;n & imath;rlayarak k & uuml;& ccedil;& uuml;k & ccedil;ocuklar & imath;n dil geli & scedil;imini olumsuz y & ouml;nde etkileyebilece & gbreve;ini d & uuml;& scedil;& uuml;nd & uuml;rmektedir.