Affective dimension of mother-infant picturebook reading

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Pergamon

Affective Dimension of Mother-Infant

Picturebook Reading

Adriana G. Bus and Marinus H. van IJzendoorn

Leiden University

Eighty-two mothers with their 44-63-week-old infants were videotaped in the context of picturebook reading. The Strange Situation procedure was applied to assess infant-mother attachment security. The observations of mother and infant behavior support the view of early literacy skills as the outcome of a fundamentally social process. The study shows that the infants' responses gain significance as denotative symbols through responding at books together with the mother, and eventually as the infants' responses grow more mature, through evoking responses and pointing by the mother. These learning/instruction processes depend on the affective dimension of the infant-mother relationship. Attachment security appeared to be related to the distraction/disciplining dimension of sharing a picturebook. The discussion goes into some consequences of learning to read as a social process. © 1997 Society for the Study of School Psychology

Keywords: Reading development, Emergent literacy, Picturebook reading, Attach- ment security, Mother-infant interaction.

B o o k s c o n t a i n d e c o n t e x t u a l i s e d i n f o r m a t i o n , t h a t is c h a r a c t e r s , events, a n d i d e a s t h a t a r e n o t r e a l l y p r e s e n t . T h e r e a d i n g o f b o o k s to i n f a n t s a n d c h i l d r e n m a y b e a m a i n r o u t e in b e c o m i n g l i t e r a t e b e c a u s e it f a m i l i a r i z e s t h e m with t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a l f u n c t i o n o f p i c t u r e s , t h e w r i t t e n l a n g u a g e register, a n d w r i t t e n s y m b o l s (Bus, v a n I J z e n d o o r n , & P e l l e g r i n i , 1995). H o w e v e r , p a r e n t s m a y n o t v a l u e b o o k r e a d i n g with i n f a n t s b e c a u s e it is n o t always r e w a r d i n g . As a c o n s e q u e n c e , m o t h e r s o f t e n p o s t p o n e p i c t u r e b o o k r e a d i n g u n t i l t h e i r c h i l d is o l d e n o u g h to o b v i o u s l y e n j o y t h e b o o k r e a d i n g i t s e l f ( L a m m e & P a c k e r , 1986). T h e p r e s e n t p a p e r a i m s at e x p l o r i n g t h e v a l u e o f r e a d i n g with i n f a n t s a n d h o w e l e m e n t a r y f o r m s o f l e a r n i n g a n d i n s t r u c t i o n d e v e l o p w i t h i n t h e c o n t e x t o f m o t h e r - i n f a n t b o o k r e a d i n g . I n l i n e w i t h t h e a s s u m p t i o n t h a t b o o k r e a d i n g is a s o c i a l p r o c e s s (Bus, 1994; Bus & van I J z e n d o o r n , 1988, 1992, 1995), s p e c i a l a t t e n t i o n will b e p a i d to t h e r o l e o f t h e affective d i m e n s i o n o f t h e m o t h e r - i n f a n t r e l a t i o n s h i p in s h a r i n g p i c t u r e b o o k s .

T h i s s t u d y f o c u s e s o n p i c t u r e b o o k s - - a t y p e o f b o o k t h a t is m o s t l y u s e d in Address correspondence and reprint requests to Adriana G. Bus, Graduate School of Education, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9555, Nb2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands.

An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS), Paris 1994.

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the early stages of bookreading. Picturebooks may be important in the genesis of symbolization. The pictures may be considered as protosymbols, that is, in contrast to symbols they do not represent a meaning but they directly present one. Protosymbols may be transformed into true symbols by gradual differentiation of vehicle and referential meaning (Werner & Kaplan, 1963). The bookreading paradigm assumes that an increasing understanding of the representational function of pictures emerges from early forms of interaction in which adults "share" with rather than "com- municate" messages to children (Bus, 1993, 1994).

Understanding the referential meaning of pictures does not emerge as an individual act, but as a social one: through touching, laughing, and looking at pictures together with the mother, and eventually through gestures, in particular pointing at pictures (Werner & Kaplan, 1963). Touching and reaching may be precursors of pointing and demonstrative vocal forms. Pointing entails not only the invitation to look but also the expectation that the mother will perceive the object in a similar way. Eventually a higher stage is reached at which sharing of pictures is achieved through (non)verbal symbols. The present study aims at describing the emergence of early forms of communication within the context of picturebook reading with preverbal infants.

In preverbal infants a gradual shift may be expected from hitting pages and grabbing the book towards higher levels of referencing such as pointing and using proto-symbols (Murphy, 1978; S6n6chal, Cornell, & Broda, 1995). A study by Murphy (1978) into the nonverbal modes of communication within the context of picturebook reading shows a gradual sophis- tication in the use of gestures as the infant becomes more competent. The 9-month-old infants hit the pictures in the book and scratched at the pages as if trying to lift the pictures from the page. Murphy (1978) characterizes the behavior of 14-month-old infants as "acting upon the book" rather than looking at it. At this age, page-turning appeared to be the predomi- nant activity. By 20 and 24 months, pointing was a well-established activity coordinated with vocal activity. According to S~n6chal and colleagues (1995) changes in the patterns of visual attention by infants and pointing behavior by parents suggest that infants appreciate the symbolic features of picturebooks by 17 months of age. The looking behavior of the 9-month- old infants suggest that the flat, static representations within the picturebooks only are of superficial interest.

The present study includes infants from 11 to 14 months old. We expect that, at this age, acting upon the book as well as more focused page-turning and referencing in the form of pointing and using (proto)symbols may occur. However, not all responses to the book will be present to the same extent. As children grow older, acting upon books may decrease while page-turning and referencing behavior may increase.

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Bus and van IJzendoorn 49

when infants are preverbal. Previous studies showed that m o t h e r s engage in what B r u n e r (1975) aptly called "scaffolding" o f infants' exploration o f the (literate) e n v i r o n m e n t . T h o s e activities children are not yet able to do themselves are d o n e with the assistance o f the mother. D e L o a c h e and D e M e n d o z a (1987) f o u n d s u p p o r t for scaffolding d u r i n g p i c t u r e b o o k reading in a study with 12-, 15-, and 18-month-old infants. With the youngest children, the p i c t u r e b o o k serves primarily as a mechanism for "scaffolding" the names o f objects, but with somewhat o l d e r 2hildren, it is used to i n t r o d u c e additional i n f o r m a t i o n to the child. Before the emergence o f verbal symbols, sharing of pictures seems to be achieved t h r o u g h r e f e r e n c i n g behavior, such as pointing by the parent. In Murphy's (1978) study, the frequency o f pointing showed a close adaptation to the increasing abilities o f the infants. S6n6chal et al. (1995) state that when infants initiated looking at the book, parents immediately followed with pointing to a feature o n the page. T h e present study e x a m i n e d changes in maternal behavior in relation to the shift from acting u p o n the book to referencing behavior o f children. In addition to maternal behavior such as referencing (for example by making sounds or gestures), evoking responses ("What's that?" or " T o u c h the catty"), pointing at pictures, and m o n i t o r i n g the child's responses we focus o n controlling behavior.

Because p i c t u r e b o o k reading patterns such as looking, touching, pointing and demonstrative vocal forms gain significance in an interpersonal context, the affective dimension o f the m o t h e r - i n f a n t a t t a c h m e n t security may influence bookreading. T h e a t t a c h m e n t relationship between chil- d r e n and parents is a relatively enduring, affective relationship between a child and o n e or m o r e adults with whom h e / s h e regularly interacts. From a t t a c h m e n t theory, several hypotheses c o n c e r n i n g the effects o f i n f a n t - p a r e n t a t t a c h m e n t o n the child's cognitive d e v e l o p m e n t can be derived (van IJzendoorn, Dijkstra, & Bus, 1995). From the safety o f a secure a t t a c h m e n t relationship, children explore unknown aspects o f their envi- r o n m e n t (such as written material) with c o n f i d e n c e and without anxiety (Bus, 1993). Insecurely attached children may be less able to derive knowledge a n d skills from their interaction with the e n v i r o n m e n t because at- t a c h m e n t related c o n c e r n s and anxieties d o m i n a t e their thoughts and actions (van I J z e n d o o r n & de Ruiter, 1993). Insecure children might show less self-regulatory capacities being inattentive and not initiating responses to the b o o k (Cassidy, 1994). Secure children may feel m o r e free to explore the environment, even if it contains exciting but also somewhat threaten- ing features. Feelings o f trust may also imply that the a t t a c h m e n t figure is a m o r e effective " t e a c h e r " o f the child. Trustful and trusted caregivers might succeed b e t t e r in the t e a c h i n g / l e a r n i n g process than caregivers who have established an insecure b o n d with their child.

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reading (Bus & van IJzendoorn, 1988, 1992, 1995). O u r data i n d e e d s u p p o r t the assumption that an insecure c h i l d - m o t h e r relationship inhib- its the f r e q u e n c y a n d quality o f sharing books in the preschool stage (see for reviews: Bus, 1993, 1994). From a cross-sectional study o n interactive reading with 18-, 32-, a n d 66-month-old children it a p p e a r e d that insecure children are less inclined to share a b o o k with their m o t h e r ; the children showed less interest in the book; a n d m o r e disciplining o n the side o f the m o t h e r o c c u r r e d (Bus & van IJzendoorn, 1988). F r o m a follow-up study with 3-year-olds who differed in the f r e q u e n c y o f reading at h o m e it a p p e a r e d that insecure children are less frequently read to (Bus & van IJzendoorn, 1992, 1995).

T h e present study is an attempt to replicate these results and to expand the findings to picturebook reading in the preverbal stage. T h e study explores self-regulatory capacities on the side o f the child (staying on the mother's lap during the reading session and being attentive) as well as maternal qualities to share the book in relation to infant-mother attachment security. We expect that insecure children are less attentive and that they are less inclined to stay on the mother's lap during the picturebook reading session than secure children. We also expect that in insecure dyads, mothers may be more inclined to control m o t o r activities and to respond negatively to distracted behavior. This may be particularly true for insecure-avoidant dyads; mothers of insecure- ambivalent infants are indeed less sensitive and responsive than mothers of secure infants, but they do not consistently reject their infant, similar to mothers o f avoidant infants (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). Insecure-ambivalent mothers are able to respond sensitively but do not always show sensitive responses, while insecure-avoidant mothers are mostly responding insensitively. T h e present study is the first one to explore specific charac- teristics of insecure-avoidant, secure, and insecure-ambivalent dyads in the context o f sharing a picturebook.

METHOD

Subjects

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Procedure

The mothers were invited to the laboratory. The complete session was videotaped and then analyzed. Mother-child pairs were invited to share a simple expository book with thematically-ordered pictures: on each page a setting characteristic for a farm with a one-sentence text. The mothers were asked to read the picturebook in the same way as at home. A chair was offered but mothers were free to sit on the floor if preferred. The sessions lasted 2 to 3 minutes. For the purpose of analysis, the first 2 minutes were coded.

Preceding the reading session, the Strange Situation procedure was applied to assess attachment security. This procedure, consisting of eight episodes, including two separation and two reunion episodes, was applied according to the guidelines of Ainsworth and h e r colleagues (Ainsworth et al., 1978). The intercoder reliability for classifying dyads into one of the three main attachment categories--A (insecure-avoidant attachment), B (secure attachment), or C (insecure-ambivalent attachment) (see Ainsworth et al., 1978, for details)--was 96% (n = 25).

Analysis of the Reading Session

Scales were constructed to score child m o t o r activity and attention, a n d responses to the book by the child. Attempts to score pointing and verbal responses by the child failed because we did not succeed in differentiating between pointing and r a n d o m touching, and between making noises a n d attempts to use labels. The mothers' behavior was scored as didactic (monitoring, pointing, evoking responses, a n d labelling) and disciplining (controlling m o t o r activity a n d giving negative feedback). Mother and infant behaviors were scored on the following scales ranging from (1) not occurring to (4) frequently occurring.

Infant behavior.

1. Acting u p o n the book: banging on the book, hitting pages, touching pictures, reaching at the book, grasping the book, r a n d o m pointing. 2. Page turning and opening and closing the book.

3. Referencing by using verbal or nonverbal protosymbols (for example: making animal sounds, caressing an animal or making movements which represent an object like horse riding in response to a picture of a horse).

4. Responding to the mothers' questioning and commenting by looking, pointing, gestures, laughing, etc.

5. Attention: showing interest in the book i n d e p e n d e n t of the child's level of responding.

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Mother behavior.

1. Controlling m o t o r activity by putting h e r arm a r o u n d the child or keeping the b o o k out o f reach.

2. Negative feedback o n the child's behavior (for example: "You d o n ' t like reading, d o n ' t you?" or " M a m m a c a n n o t read when you behave like this.")

3. Monitoring how the child is r e s p o n d i n g by looking at the child's facial expressions.

4. Evoking responses by inserting breaks a n d by posing questions such as: " W h o is that?," " W h e r e are the flowers?," " T o u c h the doggy," etc. 5. Referencing by using (proto)symbols (making animal sounds, making

movements like waving or touching, or labelling). [We d e c i d e d n o t to score labelling a n d o t h e r forms o f r e f e r e n c i n g separately because these behaviors were strongly interrelated.]

6. Pointing at pictures.

To assess reliability, two i n d e p e n d e n t coders scored part o f the video- tapes (n = 20). Mean a g r e e m e n t for m o t h e r s was .91, ranging f r o m .83 to 1.00. Mean a g r e e m e n t for infants was .93, ranging f r o m .85 to 1.00. All disagreements were discussed a n d consensus was reached.

Data Analysis

Analysis o f variance was applied to test a pr/0r/contrasts between secure and insecure dyads. Because we e x p e c t e d insecure-avoidant dyads to be m o r e deviating f r o m secure ones than insecure-ambivalent dyads we also tested a priori contrasts between insecure-avoidant dyads o n the o n e h a n d and secure a n d insecure-ambivalent dyads on the o t h e r hand. Insofar variables are significantly c o r r e l a t e d with age analysis o f covariance was executed. We e x p e c t e d associations between a t t a c h m e n t and distraction/disciplining. T h e o t h e r variables were i n c l u d e d for e x p l o r a t o r y purposes. T h e r e - fore, we p r e f e r r e d a bivariate approach. For the statistical analyses the SPSS* programs ONEWAY a n d ANOVA were applied.

RESULTS

Intercorrelations Between Mother and Infant Behaviors

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u p o n books was negatively c o r r e l a t e d with age (r = - . 4 2 ) while r e f e r e n c i n g was c o r r e l a t e d m o d e r a t e l y positive with age (r = .37). Referencing and acting u p o n the b o o k a p p e a r to r e p r e s e n t different levels o f r e s p o n d i n g to the b o o k with acting u p o n the b o o k p r e c e d i n g r e f e r e n c i n g by using (proto)symbols. Attention a n d m o t o r activity went with r e f e r e n c i n g (rs were .49 a n d .38, respectively) and page-turning (rs were .39 and .38, respectively) but n o t with acting u p o n the b o o k (rs were .05 and .09, respectively). Apparently, children who are m o r e focused on the c o n t e n t are m o r e attentive a n d m o r e inclined to stay on the m o t h e r ' s lap.

Correlations between referencing, evoking responses, and pointing by the m o t h e r were m o d e r a t e l y high. This fits with Ninio and Bruner's (1976) finding that m o t h e r s follow routines to practice labels. Monitoring was related to pointing ( r = .26) c o n f i r m i n g S6n6chal's (S6n6chal et al., 1995) finding that parents immediately follow with pointing to a feature o n the page when an infant initiates looking. Controlling strategies (putting an arm a r o u n d the child or keeping the b o o k out of reach) and negative feedback were positively c o r r e l a t e d (r = .43). T h e negative correlations between these disciplining strategies a n d didactic strategies suggest that some dyads hardly focus on the book c o n t e n t but most o f the time " s q u a b b l e " a b o u t the reading activity. N o n e o f the scales is related to age suggesting that m o t h e r s use a variety o f strategies in spite o f the child's level o f responding.

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Table 1

Mean Scores (Standard Deviations) and Pearson Correlations for Mother and Infant Behavior and Age

M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Age Child 1. Motor Activity 3.1 1.0 - .84 .09 .38 .20 .38 .09 - . 3 8 - . 5 6 .20 .14 .44 .03 2. Attention 3.0 .9 .05 .39 .33 .49 .03 - . 2 8 - . 5 1 .18 .14 .44 .09 3. Acting Upon 2.6 1.0 - . 5 3 - . 2 2 - . 2 8 - . 0 2 .05 - . 0 3 .20 - . 2 8 .10 - . 4 2 Book 4. Page Turning 1.9 1.0 - .14 .27 - . 0 5 - . 1 6 - . 3 5 - . 0 4 .29 .12 .19 5. Responding 1.2 .4 .63 .14 - . 2 0 - . 1 8 .09 .34 .38 .29 6. Referencing 1.4 .6 .08 - . 2 7 - . 4 1 .18 .35 .47 .37 Mother 7. Monitoring 2.7 .9 - . 1 5 - . 0 8 .03 .03 .26 .16 8. Negative Feed- 1.8 .7 - .43 - . 1 4 - . 3 5 - . 3 0 - . 0 1 back 9, Controlling 1.6 .8 - - . 2 6 - . 2 4 - . 4 5 - . 0 7 10. Referencing 3.0 .7 - .33 .35 - . 1 2 11. Evoking 2.0 .7 - .23 .18 Responses 12. Pointing 2.7 1.0 - .13 Age" 53.4 5.1 in weeks. p < . 0 5 i f r > . 2 1 o r r < - . 2 1 . N = 82.

Patterns of Plcturebook Reading and Infant-Mother Attachment Security

T h e scales were t r a n s f o r m e d into z-scores in order to highlight differences

" u 1',1~

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Table 2

Mean z-Scores f o r M o t h e r - I n f a n t Behaviors as a Function o f Attachment Classification A t t a c h m e n t A p r / o r / C o n t r a s t s A B C B v s . A / C A v s . B / C Child A c t i v i t y " - . 10 .17 - . 2 0 - 1.40 - .27 A t t e n t i o n ~ - . 3 1 .24 - . 1 8 - 2 . 0 9 * * - 1 . 1 1 A c t i n g b - . 0 2 .13 - . 2 2 1.09 .57 P a g e T u r n i n g ` " - . 0 7 - . 0 5 .13 .36 - . 3 7 R e s p o n d i n g b .01 .11 - . 1 7 1.77 .20 R e f e r e n c i n g b - . 4 0 .15 - . 0 4 3 . 1 4 " 5.55"* Mother M o n i t o r i n g " .43 - . 0 4 - . 1 9 .68 1.75" N e g a t i v e " .46 - . 0 9 - . 1 3 1.11 1.85" C o n t r o l l i n g ~ .33 - . 1 8 .06 1.62 1.25 R e f e r e n c i n g " .00 .07 - . 1 4 - . 5 5 .10 E v o k i n g ~ - .05 - .10 .16 .68 - .27 P o i n t i n g a .22 .08 - . 2 0 - . 3 0 1.03

A = insecure-avoidant; B = secure; C = insecure-ambivalent. N2 82; A: n = 12; B: n = 41; C:n = 29.

<' Contrasts based o n T-values, df= 79.

h Contrasts after correction for age differences, F(1, 79). *p < .10; **p < .05.

DISCUSSION A N D CONCLUSIONS

Bookreading is one of the most important activities for developing the knowledge required for becoming a reader. Meta-analytic results give straightforward support for the hypothesis that parent-child bookreading in the first 6 years of life is related to outcome measures like language growth, emergent literacy, and reading achievement (Bus et al., 1995). The present study shows how children may benefit from an early start; the results extend earlier findings about learning and teaching processes within the context of children's bookreading to picturebook reading with infants.

Preverbal infants show differences in referencing behavior as a function of age. Around the first birthday, infants make a shift from acting upon the book to higher levels of referencing. The younger infants in the sample, 12 to 13 months old, were grasping, touching, reaching, and "eating" the book, whereas the 14- to 15-month-old children were using relatively high levels, such as making sounds or gestures and looking or laughing at the pictures. Older children are also more responding to comments and questions by the mother. The following examples were prototypical for many other dyads in this sample.

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m o u t h , by biting o n it, a n d by seizing it. She hardly showed any sign o f recognizing the illustrations in the b o o k by looking at pictures or t o u c h i n g them. T h e m o t h e r was n o t inhibiting the child's actions. She was support- ive a n d m a d e c o m m e n t s o n the pages that were visible: "Are you going to eat Bambi?" or " L o o k a nice catty, miau." T h e child did n o t r e s p o n d to the m o t h e r ' s referencing.

Child 58, 60 weeks old, m a d e animal sounds a n d gestures that fit to the c o n t e n t o f the picture. For example, m o t h e r r e s p o n d e d to the picture o f a pig saying: "Gnr, gnr, gnr, little pig, little pig." T h e child answered looking in the book: " G r r r r . " T h e child also r e s p o n d e d to questions by the mother. For example, looking at the picture o f a horse m o t h e r said: " D o you see? Oh, horsie . . . where daddy rides o n . " In response the child m a d e the m o v e m e n t o f horse riding. M o t h e r r e s p o n d e d by saying: "Yes, we are going to ride, yes. This is a h o r s e " (pointing). She s u p p o r t e d the child when it did n o t succeed in t u r n i n g a page. T h e child also elicited responses f r o m the mother. Later in the session he r e p e a t e d the horse-riding m o v e m e n t and the m o t h e r r e s p o n d e d by looking for the picture o f the horse while asking: " D o you want to see the horse again?"

Page-turning is n o t significantly related to age, although t h e r e seems to be a slight increase in this type o f behavior as children grow older. A few children in the sample focused mainly o n page-turning, only now and t h e n paying attention to the pictures by looking at t h e m or by r e s p o n d i n g to them.

Child 14, 56 weeks old, t u r n e d pages d u r i n g the whole session. T h e m o t h e r allowed h e r to do so and o f f e r e d help when the child did n o t succeed in t u r n i n g a page. During t u r n i n g pages, the m o t h e r r e s p o n d e d to the pictures that b e c a m e visible when a page was t u r n e d , for example: " W h e r e is quack q u a c k . . . T h e r e is the little duck." (next page) "Ah, there it i s . . . give a kiss, give quack quack a kiss . . . . " Sometimes the child s e e m e d to follow the mother, b u t she was only attentive for a very short p e r i o d o f time. Sometimes the m o t h e r stimulated the child to find some picture ( " W h e r e is quack quack?") a n d r e s p o n d e d enthusiastically when the child o p e n e d the b o o k (accidentally) at the page with the duck.

T h o u g h the data are not longitudinal and the age range is small, the cross-sectional differences suggest a growing u n d e r s t a n d i n g that books are referential m e d i a a n d that they contain pictures a n d symbols that stand for things. T h e behavior o f these infants suggests that they are beginning to appreciate the symbolic features o f picturebooks. Apparently, the reading d e v e l o p m e n t starts at this early, preverbal stage.

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labels, by evoking responses ( " T o u c h the catty"), a n d by p o i n t i n g at the pictures. T h e m o t h e r s ' scores o n r e f e r e n c i n g by using ( p r o t o ) s y m b o l s are quite high for the g r o u p as a whole a n d they show such b e h a v i o r notwith- standing the child's level o f responding. Mothers m a y use labels, animal sounds, a n d gestures as a m e a n s to focus the child's a t t e n t i o n o n the b o o k content. However, there is s o m e evidence that m o t h e r s a d a p t their behavior to the infant's responses a n d b e c o m e m o r e d e m a n d i n g as their infants' level o f r e f e r e n c i n g is growing m o r e m a t u r e ; as infants b e c o m e m o r e responsive to the m o t h e r s a n d as they start to use protosymbols, m o t h e r s e x t e n d their r e f e r e n c i n g b e h a v i o r by p o i n t i n g at the pictures (see also Murphy, 1976 who r e p o r t s a similar o u t c o m e ) a n d by evoking responses ("caress the b a a - l a m b " ) . M o r e t h a n in the previous stage, m o t h e r s m a k e a t t e m p t s to instruct labels t h r o u g h pointing, evoking responses, a n d labelling at the s a m e time (e.g., Ninio & Bruner, 1978). However, such routines s e e m to be a c o n s e q u e n c e o f children's level o f r e s p o n d i n g a n d they are n o t - - a s is suggested by Ninio a n d B r u n e r - - p r e s e n t f r o m an early age on. M o t h e r - i n f a n t dyads s e e m to differ in the ability to share a picturebook. In contrast to secure children, the insecure ones are less attentive. At the s a m e time, in insecure dyads m o t h e r s are m o r e inclined to control the child's b e h a v i o r physically; m o t h e r s restrict the infant's m o v e m e n t s a n d k e e p the b o o k o u t o f reach. Typical for an insecure dyad is the following e x a m p l e .

F r o m the very b e g i n n i n g o f the session child 42, 52 weeks old, did not

show interest in the book. T h e child mostly l o o k e d at o t h e r objects in the e n v i r o n m e n t a n d m a d e a t t e m p t s to escape f r o m the m o t h e r ' s lap. Only rarely did he look at the b o o k or b a n g o n the book. At the start o f the session the m o t h e r tried to k e e p the child on h e r lap by p u t t i n g h e r a r m a r o u n d the child. After a while she allowed the child to walk t h r o u g h the r o o m for a while. W h e n she p u t the child again on h e r lap he started to cry. In o t h e r respects as well, insecure m o t h e r s t e n d to r e s p o n d m o r e negatively to their child t h a n secure m o t h e r s . Particularly, m o t h e r s o f insecure- avoidant infants are inclined to give negative f e e d b a c k to p r o b l e m behavior. T h e s e m o t h e r s are also inclined to m o n i t o r their child's b e h a v i o r m o r e intensely t h a n secure a n d insecure-ambivalent m o t h e r s . Mothers of insecure-avoidant infants m a y do so because they e x p e c t their child to r e s p o n d negatively a n d they k e e p c h e c k i n g their child's responses to p r e v e n t or stop negative behavior. This is in line with Isabella a n d Belsky's (1991) finding that m o t h e r s o f avoidant infants t e n d to b e c o m e overstim- ulating.

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that insecure m o t h e r s are m o r e inclined to discipline (Bus & van IJzen- d o o r n , 1988, 1995).

F u r t h e r sequential analyses may highlight w h e t h e r or n o t mothers of insecure infants are i n d e e d r e s p o n d i n g m o r e negatively to their child's behavior. In insecure dyads, m o t h e r s may n o t allow exploration o f the b o o k at the level o f reaching, grasping, a n d t o u c h i n g and, as a result, infants may lose their interest in the book. An alternative explanation is that m o t h e r s r e s p o n d to the child's distraction; they have a h i g h e r score o n disciplining because their children are less attentive. Whatever the causal chain, insecure dyads will be less persistent in b o o k r e a d i n g and, as a result, the d e v e l o p m e n t o f m o r e m a t u r e forms o f r e f e r e n c i n g may be h i n d e r e d . This seems particularly true for insecure-avoidant dyads. T h e i r m o t h e r s are r e s p o n d i n g m o r e negatively toward inattentive behavior than m o t h e r s o f secure a n d insecure-ambivalent infants and, probably as a result, insecure- avoidant children lag b e h i n d in symbolizing behavior.

Limitations of the Study

Although the outcomes o f the p r e s e n t study are promising, most effects are weak, probably as a c o n s e q u e n c e o f this study's design. T h e results are based o n observing m o t h e r - i n f a n t dyads d u r i n g o n e b o o k r e a d i n g session o f short duration. Analyzing the data, we used four-point scales instead o f frequencies, which may have r e d u c e d variability as well.

A n o t h e r limitation o f the p r e s e n t study is that we have observed picture- b o o k reading o n c e in a laboratory setting. We feel that standardization o f the r e a d i n g sessions allows for detailed comparisons between the groups, a n d that by c o n f r o n t i n g the subjects with a new book, differences in prior e x p e r i e n c e s with the b o o k to be read f r o m are r u l e d out. Nevertheless, standardization may have b e e n i m p l e m e n t e d at the cost o f the ecological validity o f the design.

Yet a n o t h e r limitation is that the age range in the p r e s e n t study was limited. Longitudinal studies are n e e d e d to describe developmental processes in preverbal children in m o r e detail. Sequential analyses may add to a b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f the causal relationship between m o t h e r and child behavior.

Practical Implications

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For many mothers picturebook reading to infants is anything but a positive experience; they are not aware that behavior like hitting pages and grabbing books are part o f a normal developmental pattern and are not willing to persist in bookreading and adjust their expectations and behavior to their infants' responses. In the Netherlands, several intergenerafional programs are developed to stimulate bookreading from infancy on in low literate families with hardly any reading tradition.

Scaffolding learning processes o f 4- to 6-year-olds at school may be m o r e effective with programs that are designed to build u p o n the kind o f instruction a n d discovery that children receive t h r o u g h their informal instruction at h o m e (Sulzby, 1994). Studies o f b o o k r e a d i n g at h o m e may t h e r e f o r e help with designing appropriate programs in preschool, kinder- garten, and probably in early e l e m e n t a r y years as well. This study provides evidence that reading is n o t a process o f learning isolated skills but it reinforces the view o f learning to read as a fundamentally social process. In the beginning stages, sharing a b o o k is m o r e i m p o r t a n t than communicat- ing i n f o r m a t i o n to the child. This may explain the potential advantages of holistic approaches such as Clay's Reading Recovery p r o g r a m for "at-risk" children in early e l e m e n t a r y years; Clay's p r o g r a m emphasizes construct- ing m e a n i n g f r o m p r i n t s u p p o r t e d by an adult instead o f training isolated subskills (Pinnell, DeFord, Bryk, & Seltzer, 1994).

O u r studies on book reading also made us aware of the importance of a safe base as a necessary condition for the development of emergent literacy skills. Early learning processes in the domain of literacy are e m b e d d e d in the affective interpersonal context. Further research is warranted to test the validity of this assumption based on observations of children in preschool age for learning and instruction at school. Programs for young children may only be successful if teachers succeed in creating a safe base for the children (Pianta & Steinberg, 1992; van IJzendoorn & de Ruiter, 1993), which enables them to share books and other products of literacy in an effective way.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We acknowledge the assistance o f Nelleke Breekveldt, Ienka Buik, Ingrid van de Mark, and Peggy Smith in coding data. T h e study was s u p p o r t e d by a PIONEER award of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research to Marinus van IJzendoorn.

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