داربست مادرانه و مقررات توجه در کودکان در فقر زندگی می کنند

This study examines the relation of maternal scaffolding and children's attention regulation abilities in preschool children from low-income families within the context of a parent–child interaction task and in a child-alone task. Maternal scaffolding behaviors differed for mothers of children with different attention regulation skills. Mothers whose children demonstrated poor attention regulation skills in the parent–child interaction were more likely to verbally engage their children, including more strategic questions, verbal hints, and verbal prompts. Children's level of attention regulation skills interacted with mother's amount of scaffolding to predict performance in the child-alone task. Attention regulation skills were related to independent performance only in the context of high maternal scaffolding. Findings contribute new information important for parent interventions to promote attention regulation skills in children who are at risk for poor academic achievement outcomes.

Understanding children's self-regulation of attention has been described as central to enhancing school readiness and academic achievement (Blair, 2002 and Sethi et al., 2000). Attention regulation refers to the ability to self-monitor one's deployment of attention, which includes maintaining attention, ignoring distractions, staying alert to task goals, and coordinating one's attention during a task (Ruff & Rothbart, 1996). The literature on children's attention regulation has traditionally focused on the child in isolation from the social environment within which the development of attention occurs. However, attention regulation has been recognized as an enduring interaction between individuals and their environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1999, Rogoff, 1990, Vygotsky, 1978 and Wertsch, 1979). Recent research has examined individual differences in the processes by which attention regulation develops in a social context (Davis et al., 2004, Davis et al., 2004, Gauvain, 2001 and Harris et al., 2007). These studies have focused on preschool children from populations who are at risk for developing attention delays and disorders. The current study continues this socio-cognitive approach with low-income families and examines specific attention regulation skills and individual performance by children, along with techniques exhibited by mothers to promote attention regulation during a joint parent–child puzzle-matching task.