Two's Company, Three Makes a Difference: An Examination of Mothers' and Fathers' Speech to Their Young Children

STONEMAN, ZOLINDA, and BRODY, GENE H. Two's Company, Three Makes a Difference: An Examination of Mothers' and Fathers' Speech to Their Young Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 705-707. The present study examined how conversations between parents and offspring change as a function of the number of family members interacting. The verbal interactions between 18 2-year-old children and their mothers and fathers were audiorecorded during 2 dyadic sessions, 1 with each of the parents alone with the child, and 1 triadic session, in which all 3 family members participated. The results revealed that parental speech to their young children is influenced by the gender of their offspring and the number of family members interacting in the situation. Children, on the other hand, displayed little variation across the family situations. These results were discussed in terms of the roles which mothers and fathers occupy within the family system.