Parents' perceptions and attributions of infant vocal behaviour and development

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Abstract
In the present study, parents of 3- to 12-month-old infants completed 3 questionnaires that assessed the nature and developmental course of parents' beliefs about their infants' vocal behaviour and development. Although all groups of parents considered their infants' vocal behaviour to be generally communicative, meaningful, and related to the development of 'real' language, these attributions varied with the age of the infant, the gender of the parent, as well as other parental measures, such as general knowledge of infant behaviour and develop ment. These results suggest that parents (especially mothers) ascribe communicative function to infants' early vocalizations. The role of these parental belief systems should be considered in future research investigating the evolution of parent-infant communication.