The present article reports a study of communicative behaviour among mothers and
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respectively. The participants were 27 Finnish-speaking mothers and their
10-month-old first-born infants (13 boys and 14 girls). The study is descriptive by
nature, and the data were therefore treated in terms of descriptive parameters.
According to the results, maternal sensitivity was associated with general activity
in communication as well as the frequency of responses, while infant co-operation
was associated with the frequency of intentional communicative acts. As for more
detailed aspects of communicative style, for example, the use of different kinds of
communicative means, only some slight associations were found between them and the
ratings of sensitivity and co-operation. The dyadic nature of maternal sensitivity
is emphasized in interpreting the findings.
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