Abstract

This study examined the responsiveness and the initiative of Korean infant and mother as aspects of social competence which are showed through infant-mother interaction in social toy play. Ninety one infant-mother dyads(mean=6.95 months) were videotaped in free play with various toys at the play setting of the laboratory. Responsiveness and initiative of each infant and his/her mother were coded with various levels in 15 seconds intervals and analyzed using cluster analysis and profile analysis. In results, 3 types of group were classified by maternal initiative types. And, the group of mothers who initiate to redirect and to maintain their infants' attention could not lead to much more high level response of infants than non-redirecting group of mothers. This phenomenon is either to the group of mothers who initiate to redirect and to extend their infants' attention. Although infants' initiative were not different through maternal initiative types, maternal responsiveness were significantly different through maternal initiative types. Non-directing group of mothers show significantly less ignoring responses than other groups of mothers. With the results we suggested that maternal responsiveness is more valuable to social competence at early infancy as well as later.