Influence of Caregiver Status on Joint Attention in Children

The care of parents regardless of gender is equally necessary for the health and well-being of their children. Despite occupational differences, parents manage to provide similar amounts of care through outside resources such as daycares and early programs. However, each parent brings unique contributions - primary vs. secondary - to their child's care instead of an expected equal contribution. There are two important perspectives on how caregivers should interact with their children in a way that promotes social interaction behaviors, such as joint attention. The first perspective says that parents who allow their children to lead in play are better at engaging their children. The second perspective proposes that parents who are directive with their children better promote their child's learning. Does this mean then, parental status (primary vs. secondary) influence the way parents support social interaction? To address this research question, the present study will investigate the effect of caregiver status (primary vs secondary) on joint attention during a parent-infant play task using head-mounted eye-trackers. We hypothesize that parental status will significantly influence the frequency and duration of an infant's joint attention experiences during a parent-infant play task - that is, infants with their primary parents will experience more frequent and longer joint attention experiences than infants with their secondary parents during the play task. The expected findings will contribute to our understanding of how parent status shapes early learning experiences and further creates cascading support for early social development.