Effects of maternal scaffolding during joint toy play with preterm and full-term infants

Six-month-old, Cull-term infants (n = 49) and medically high-risk (n = 37) and low-risk (n = 42) preterm infants were observed in toy-centered interactions with their mothers. The conditional probability of infants increasing in the complexity of their play when mothers maintained their attention or introduced toys, rather than redirected their attention, was greater for the high-risk infants than for the other two infant groups. All infants were more likely to increase their level of play if mothers used structured strategies, rather than simply orienting their attention to the toys. Parenting attitudes (e.g., concepts of childrearing and attitudes of warmth) related to their use of facilitative attention-directing behaviors, particularly for mothers of the high-risk infants.