Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Hoff, Erika
Abstract
The present study investigated the relation of children’s attentional behaviors to context, gender, and their language skills. Participants were 33 children and their parents. The following attentional behaviors were measured based on coding of video recordings of 30-minute free-play interactions at 30 months: time spent in engaged states (attending to an object, person, or event) and frequency of changes from one engagement state to another. Children’s productive vocabulary and language comprehension were measured using standardized tests at 30, 36, and 42 months. Males spent more time in joint engagement and switched engagement states less frequently. Children spent more time engaged during Animal and Picnic toy play than Book reading. Children attended longer to picnic-related objects than animal-related objects or books, and attended longer to animal- related objects than books. Longer sustained attention—measured as lower frequencies of state switches—was related to higher concurrent and future language comprehension scores.
Extent
60 p.
Recommended Citation
Welsh, Stephanie N., "The relation of joint engagement and sustained attention to gender, context, and language development: a longitudinal study" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019. 1347.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_6/1347
Identifier
FA00004419
Comments
Includes bibliography.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.