Is er een verschil tussen baby’s die lopen en baby’s die niet lopen in de hoeveelheid Joint Attention (JA)?

Abstract

The present article investigates if joint attention (JA) in babies from 9 to 16 months increases when they attain independent walking. JA is important for the baby’s language development, learning to walk may play a central role in this process. This study is divided in two subquestions. The first subquestion is about the reaction on JA initiated by the parent and the second subquestion is about the JA initiated by the baby. A total of 15 babies were observed in interaction with one of their parents, by using a coding scheme. In addition, a questionnaire was administered regarding the development of the baby. A MANCOVA was used to analyze the data. This study found no significant influence of being able to walk on the amount of JA. A possible explanation for this finding is a too small sample. In addition, the environmental conditions of the observation settings differed too much. The raw data showed a higher mean for the JA initiated by the child as well as a higher mean for the response to JA initiated by the parent. Despite that there is no significant effect, JA is an important aspect to investigate further. In follow-up research, a larger sample can be used and the environmental conditions can be more defined. As an extension in follow-up research, a distinction can be made between the different forms of JA. It can be concluded that in this study no significant relationship was found between the amount of JA and the ability to walk.