Mother‐child and father‐child communication in the second year: A functional approach

The purpose of this study was to compare young children's communication with their mother and with their father at the end of the second year. Communication was analysed in terms of the function or social goal of messages addressed to the adult. Twenty children attending day care centres were observed in a specifically planned setting. The findings showed that children (boys and girls) addressed more directives to their fathers and tended to address more expressions of reactions to objects and events (expressives) to their mothers. These differences stem in part from the spontaneous choice by the child of his or her communicative acts. As for the parents, fathers produced more action directives than mothers and mothers produced more assertives than fathers. The results are discussed in terms of (a) the capacity of young children to adapt their communicative acts to the partners' characteristics, and (b) a difference in focus of father‐child and mother‐child relationships: the former appear to be more ‘task‐oriented’ and the latter more oriented to sharing ‘descriptions’ of the inner or the outer world.