MATERNAL INTERNAL STATE TALK IN BOOKREADING AND CHILD SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between maternal internal state talk in context of bookreading and the delay of gratification. In a previous study, mother-child dyads completed two assessments: a wordless picture bookreading interaction and a delay of gratification task (the M&M task). The wordless picture bookreading interaction was measured and coded for the amount of cognitive and emotion words used by the mother. The delay of gratification task was measured and coded for who ate an M&M and who did not in five trials, and how long it took them to do so, as well as the latency to touch the cup holding the M&M. I hypothesized that mothers who used more cognitive and emotion words would have children perform better in the delay of gratification task (i.e. wait longer to eat the M&M and be less likely to eat it at all). The findings suggested that there was no significant difference in maternal internal state talk between children who ate an M&M in at least one of the trials and children who did not eat the M&M at all. However, the findings do suggest that children who did not eat the M&M had mothers who used slightly more cognitive and emotion words than children who ate the M&M.