The Relationship Between Parental Responsiveness and Infant Social-Cognitive Behaviors in Infancy and Toddlers' Joint Attention

Joint attention, also known as joint engagement, is defined as the ability to coordinate attention between a social partner and an object or event of shared interest. Joint attention occupies a central position in children's developmental research and has been shown to be crucial for language development, communication, and other advanced social skills. However, influences on the development of joint attention are not well understood. In this longitudinal honors thesis, we examined in 89 dyads how infant social-cognitive behaviors (i.e., triadic engagement, communicative vocalizations, and face looks) and caregiver responsiveness at 9 to12 months of age was associated with later joint engagement skills at 18 or 24 months old. Results showed that infant social-cognitive behaviors at Time 1 were significantly associated with some aspects of toddler joint engagement at Time 2; however, caregiver responsiveness was not. Future research should continue exploring the effects of individual differences in infancy and caregiver behavior on the development of joint attention in toddlerhood.