Interaction of Down syndrome toddlers and their mothers: A comparative study with a Chinese population

The American literature has well documented the reciprocal relationship of mother-handicapped child interaction. No studies have been conducted on this topic with a Chinese population. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of mental handicaps on the interaction patterns of Chinese mothers and children, and to investigate to what extent the characteristics and behaviors of the Down Syndrome child were associated with maternal involvement.;Twenty-one Down syndrome and twenty-one nonhandicapped toddlers, aged 12 to 31 months, and their mothers resided at the Taipei City area in the Republic of China participated in this study. Two groups were matched on the basis of the child's chronological age, gender, and birth order, and maternal education level. Each mother-child dyad was videotaped in a laboratory playroom during 20 minutes of free play. Videotaped child and maternal interactive behaviors were coded based on the modified Child Rating Scale (Goldman & Martin, 1986) and the Parent/Caregiver Involvement Scale (Farran et al., 1986). State level, communication, and temperament type of the child were measured by the Carolina Record of Individual Behavior (Simeonsson, 1979) and the Chinese version of the Toddler Temperament Scale (Fullard et al., 1984).;The findings of this study were: (1) Down syndrome children demonstrated significantly less social initiation and positive affect but similar responsiveness as their nonhandicapped peers. Positive affect was found to best discriminate between the two groups. (2) Mothers of Down syndrome children displayed lower involvement on overall quality but not on overall amount of appropriateness of interaction compared with mothers of nonhandicapped children. Lower quality of maternal interaction between mothers of Down Syndrome and nonhandicapped children best discriminated the two groups and were evident in maternal behaviors of physical involvement, verbal behavior, and positive emotion. Mothers of Down syndrome children were found to show interactive behaviors which were characterized by less sensitive handling, less adjustment for child's comprehension, and less expressed warmth toward their children. (3) The child's temperament type and initiation, maternal verbal behavior and positive emotion were critical variables in interactions between Down syndrome children and their mothers. Including the assessment of child temperament type and individually planned early intervention programs that focused on the quality of parent-child interaction are, thus, suggested.