Parent-infant play during the first year of life

Abstract

Seven-, 10-, and 13-month-old infants were videotaped in their homes playing with either their father or their mother. As in previous research, more fathers used rough physical play with their infants than did mothers. For the most part, however, fathers and mothers exhibited the same developmental changes in their play. The proportion of parents using two stimulation forms of play (i.e., gentle and rough physical) was inversely related to increasing infant age. In contrast, more parents used two forms of play affording infant contribution of coordinated schemes (i.e., role games and pretend play) with 13-month-olds than with 7-month-olds. Similarly, parents of older infants used coordinated object play more frequently than did parents of younger infants. Mothers decreased use of stimulation with objects and increased use of reading, while fathers used these behaviors infrequently, regardless of infant age.